


All Blues Skies

by anddirtyrain



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-11 13:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5628058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anddirtyrain/pseuds/anddirtyrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>3-year-old Addy Queen has her father wrapped around her little finger. Oliver is happy as a single dad, but juggling a toddler, being CFO and keeping his parents in check doesn’t leave much time for dating. After a string of bad dates he doesn’t even have the time for, he is about ready to hang the towel – when a surprising meeting (in Blockbuster of all places) takes his breath away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Almost there._

Her lungs were begging for her to stop, and her muscles burned from exertion-the fact that she was wearing 4-inch-heels was not helping her either- but Felicity Smoak was nothing if not determined. She pulled the grocery bag higher up her arm, really feeling those 3 pints of ice cream now, but she was _this_ close to Blockbuster.

One more little thing and she could go home and have her perfect night off.

She was not technically supposed to work nights, but her supervisor was an ass, and she was still new to the job so she kept quiet about it. Plus, she actually liked what she did (she repressed actual shudders whenever she thought of the Tech Village down the street from her apartment).

Point is, Felicity loved her job. Except for the whole, _‘Felicia is it? I screwed up this incredibly simple thing, please fix it for me so I can take the credit later’_ thing. Oh, but not tonight.

She finally stepped inside the cool, air conditioned room, and sighed. No, sir. Tonight she was going to put on the movie she had been craving to see again, and sink in decadence (which, much to her best friend’s chagrin, equaled ice-cream and wine).

She headed to the children’s section of the movie store. So she felt like watching The Lion King. She was part of the target audience when it first came out. She located the movie at the end of the isle, her tired eyes noticing there was only one left. She felt like the stars had aligned, a mystical path of pale fluorescent lights and oddly shaped stains in the carpet floor her guide to the _one DVD left_. Was it sort of sad that she was already itching to tell Iris about her luck? The wine was on discount, too. Surely it warranted telling her all about it, right?

Her fingertips were this close to the DVD when some other hand snatched it right out of her grasp.

“Hey!” She yelped, embarrassingly loud considering how many people turned to look at her.

“Oh, sorry. Where you going to get that?”

 **“** Ye-” she stopped. Just stopped. Because the mountain of a man who nearly stole her precious DVD was ridiculous. Just-are eyes even allowed to be that blue? And he was tall. Like, his height _gave meaning_ to the saying ‘towering over her’. And he was starting to look uncomfortable.

“I mean. Yup. Yeah. Aha.” She nodded.

He scratched the back of his neck as he looked down at her, looking a little out-of-place in the kid section of Blockbuster.

“Huh…do you mind if I take it?” he asked. “It’s for my daughter.”

“Really? Where is she?” Felicity Smoak should not be allowed to speak sometimes. “I mean, I wasn’t implying she was fake, but, since I don’t have a kid and I was about to pick that up…“

He looked as though he was containing a laugh. Great, Smoak.

“Addy?” he asked in the general direction of the next isle, and a little blur of blond hair came barreling in between them.

“You win this time,” she told him quietly, looking down at the adorable toddler, a spitting image of her father.

“I’m Oliver,” he said, extending his right hand to her, the other one on top of the head of the baby looking curiously up at her.

 “Felicity,” she answered, taking his hand and shaking it. He was surprisingly gentle for someone so…well, _big_. It was almost overwhelming. Like a huge mountain-man. Lumberjack?

She let go a second later, hoping her face didn’t reflect the train wreck happening inside her head, and leaned down to his daughter’s height.  “And this little girl is…”

“Smart! And Pretty!” she exclaimed, smiling a toothy grin.

Above them, Oliver chuckled, and she smiled herself. She was adorable.

“Yes, you are,” she affirmed, which made the girl smile even wider.

“This is Addy,” Oliver said, and hand on her shoulder.

“I’m Felicity,” she said. She didn’t have much experience with toddlers so she wasn’t sure what the procedure was, but she extended her hand for a handshake, and Addy followed suit.  She shook the chubby little hand with a smile.

“You’re pretty,” Addy said, a hand going to her ponytail and taking a strand of hair between her little fingers.

“She is, isn’t she?” Oliver said above them, and she honestly thinks her heart skipped a beat, or possibly her lungs stopped functioning for a second. Something definitely happened though, because mountain-man-Oliver just sort of called her pretty? Well, he agreed with a toddler. That’s customary, right?

She was probably blushing as she untangled the little hand from her hair, and thanked her lucky stars she just got her roots done last week. “Thanks,” she told Addy, and stood up.

“Well, enjoy the movie, I’ll just get something else.” Her eyes ran through the DVDs. “This one, actually,” she said,  picking UP.

“That’s a good one. We love it,” Oliver said, looking at her with a curious expression that made something swoop in her belly.  God when was the last time she’d tried flirting with someone?

“I found it a little on the existentialism side for children to be honest,” she said. And clearly it was too long ago.  Whatever, she  gave herself a little pat on the back when he looked amused.

“She just turned three,” Oliver said. “She liked the balloons.” His mouth quirked up in a smile. He had an amazing smile.

“Of course,” she smiled despite herself, or the fact she probably made a complete fool out of herself in five minutes flat. “I’m going to go now, and take this.” She started to walk away, but then turned around. “I mean of course I’m paying, I mean take as in-“

“It was nice meeting you, Felicity,” he interrupted her, now most definitely trying not to laugh.

“Nice meeting you too,” she said. She looked him in the eyes, and he didn’t look away. If she was more like her friend Lis she’d be asking him for his number. But she wasn’t.

 “Goodbye, Oliver.” She looked around for a second and found his little girl rearranging a couple of romantic comedies.  “Bye, Addy,” she called out.

“Bye bye!” the toddler waved back in a way that was entirely too adorable, and made Felicity feel a little like her mom with how much she wanted to do something dumb and age inappropriate like coo. She merely smiled to herself and headed to the cashier.

She walked out of the store with an odd, giddy feeling thrumming through her. When she got home her ice cream had melted, but Felicity didn’t quite care.

 

 

A Lego smacked against his foot. He leaned down to grab the offending piece of red plastic and return it to its owner, the little girl doing more throwing than building as she sat in the middle of the living room.

He was still on his work clothes, the suit uncomfortable after a long day and a walk home from the movie place, but he didn’t want to keep Addy waiting for dinner. He loosened his tie and let it fall somewhere, and toed off his shoes as he walked to the kitchen. Oliver turned off the pot of boiling tomato sauce, having a taste before circling back to the living room.

 He popped in the DVD for Addy to watch while he got changed. He smiled a little to himself as he remembered the woman he talked into giving him the movie, _Felicity_.

Apart from his three year old daughter, he’s never heard someone ramble that much.

“I’m hungry.” His daughter’s small voice shook him out of his own head.

“I know, just a second. Stay here, okay?” he asked, picking her up and gently throwing her on the couch.

“Daddy!” Her giggles followed him to his room, where he made quick work of his shirt –cuff links non-existent, since he’d gotten a scare when a two year old Adelaide Thea Queen had decided to pop one in her mouth- and got into his usual sweatpants-and-T-shirt combo in record time.

He couldn’t leave his daughter alone for long, and he didn’t want to.

It was second nature now, even if it hadn’t always been that way. He’d been pretty close to shock when Sandra told him she was pregnant. He’d been livid when she showed up at his apartment not a full week afterward with a story about his mother and a large sum of money, that he couldn’t believe and at the same time found completely plausible.

He’d never say that Addy was a mistake now, but the circumstances around her conception had been less than ideal.  As in, a one night stand where too much alcohol resulted in a lack of protection. He’d been twenty-one and stupid, but he didn’t regret it. Out of that time in his life came the best thing that’s ever happened to him, even if he never had an actual relationship with Addy’s mother-which was on him. Sandra had wanted marriage and he couldn’t give her that.

_“We don’t love each other,” he’d said, dumbfounded, when she suggested it. She’d looked at him like he was insane for thinking that was a good enough reason to avoid getting married._

_“So? Your parents don’t love each other and they’re Starling City royalty.” She said it like it was a good thing, but Oliver only thought of the happy family front they put at dinners and galas, and how he’d never seen them so much as kiss behind their house walls._

_“I don’t want a marriage like my parents,” he told her._

_“I do! I want people to stop calling me your ‘baby mama’ like I’ve never done anything else with my life. I want them to stop calling our baby a mistake-“_

_“But it was!” he exclaimed, and it had stopped her cold._

_“You’re an asshole, Ollie,” she said, and he was alarmed to find tears in her eyes._

_“I didn’t mean it like that.” He put his hands on her arms, trying to make it better somehow. He was such a screw-up. “I love that baby already,” he said, surprising himself-but he found it was true._

_On the couple of days since he got the news, buried beneath the mountain of shit-I-fucked-up_ _’s and fear, he was sort of excited. “But Sandra… we never…you never wanted this. Stop pretending otherwise. Don’t make us into something we’re not. It was a one night stand!” Immediately, he realized it was the wrong thing to say._

_She shook off his arms, angrily wiping underneath her eyes as she took a step back. She composed herself so quickly he wondered if she had really been upset at all._

_“Fine, Oliver. I wasn’t expecting you to say yes...but I had to try.”_

_“Sandra…” He tried to touch her, but she took a step back. “I’ll be there, every step of the way. If you need anything at all…Doctor’s appointments, medicine, baby clothes. I mean, I don’t know much about that but I’ll get them for you. Shit-a crib...we can go together-“_

_“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ollie,” she said, the grimace leaving her face a little._  

Back then she’d been disappointed, but after a while, a little excited too.

That was before the nausea started, or her baby bump popped, or her feet swelled. Before she realized that she really didn’t want to be pregnant. He hated himself more than a little for putting her through that. But still, with every month that went by the more he wanted to meet this tiny person.

He didn’t speak to his parents for months after what Sandra told him, no matter how much they tried to reach out. He moved out. He would pick up Speedy from them and drop her off on the weekends, and that was the extent of their interactions. He went home and read, more than he ever did during his brief time in college. He _tried_. In the end, Sandra didn’t want to.

But that had been three years ago, and now his daughter, the person who had made everything worth it, was right in front of him. Happy and healthy and safe.

Car noises came from the living room as Addy dragged her Lego  across the carpet. “Daddy, look at it! Me made it!”

“ _I_ made it,” he corrects gently, picking her up as she squeals. He presses a noisy kiss to her cheek.

She puts both tiny hands on his chest to balance herself, and pats him with a serious little face. “ _Nuh-huh._ I did! You were no help, no help at all.”

“Okay.” He chuckled. “Ready for some spaghetti and meatballs?”

 

It was halfway through the movie (that he could practically quote with how many times he’d seen it) that his mind wandered to blond-ponytails and hot-pink lipstick.

It was only so long he could pay attention to a cartoon lion.

His life didn’t leave a lot of free time for dating, but he hadn’t felt the lack of company as keenly as he supposed he should have, considering how he used to be. How his best friend still was. He can’t remember the last time he saw the same woman on Tommy’s arm two parties in a row. He, on the other hand, only attended the parties he had to, and then only had one very special girl literally sitting on his arm, too small to navigate crowds.

Oliver hadn’t gone in a date in a while. He hadn’t _wanted_ to _actually go_ on one in even longer, but this woman, Felicity… he barely exchanged a few words with her and he’d felt more awake than he had in weeks.  She was beautiful, in a way he wasn’t accustomed to, and quirky, and seemed to have no idea who he was. It was refreshing. 

He’d stood there and stared at her like an idiot, but couldn’t gather the courage to ask her out before she left the store. Oliver Queen was losing his edge.

_Damn._

 

 

 “I have things to tell you,” Felicity said, plopping down on the couch, glass of wine served and ready on her coffee table.  She only waited for Iris’ go ahead before starting their usual end-of-the-week hours-long conversations.  She was confident she’d have the better story this particular week. 

Felicity could hear her friend making dinner in the background. She scrunched her nose in distaste, her take-out leftovers were warming up in the microwave.

 “Okaay,” Iris dragged out. “Should I get comfortable?” she teased.

“Yeah. Way comfortable.”

She launched into relaying her trip to the convenience store (discount wine deserved at least a nod, she wouldn’t function properly without it); her walk to Blockbuster because –yes, her car isn’t back from the shop yet- and then, “I met someone.”

“And?!” Felicity could actually hear how excited Iris was.

“By the way, I take offense that you don’t think my wine and Blockbuster adventures aren’t as exciting as the manly mountain man I met during, but I’ll let it slide this time.”

“You have wine and blockbusters adventures every Friday.”

“Touché,” she conceded, happily pouring herself another glass.

“So…manly mountain man?”

“Did I actually call him that?” she asked, smiling to herself. He did look like a manly mountain man. He probably chopped his own lumber. Do people even used real lumber nowadays?

“Yup.” Iris answered her. “You’re lucky Anne is on a date right now, otherwise we’d be having this conversation on speaker and with way more alcohol.” She mentioned, bringing up the other third of their band of amigos.

“I talked to some guy at a blockbuster, not spiraled into drug abuse,” she reminded her. “I don’t need an intervention. Can you even bring alcohol to interventions?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “Anyways, let’s focus on what’s important. Such as Mountain Man.”

“Straight to the facts,” Felicity teased, quoting one of Iris’ favorite phrases.

“Indeed, I’m a reporter,” Iris told her. “Now, spill.”

“Well, his name was Oliver, and he was ridiculously tall and his eyes were ridiculously blue and he was, just— all around ridiculous.” Felicity bit her lip, smiling to herself.

“I…gathered.” Iris laughed. “So, you get his number?”

“Nope. That’s where my luck ended. He has a family.”

“Oh,” Iris said.

“The most adorable little girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.  She called me pretty! And Oliver agreed with her and I’m about 70% sure he was flirting. With me. But then I actually got home and heated dinner and started thinking about the fact that he’s probably married and I felt kind of sleazy even though it’s not my fault or my business what he says, right?”

“Right,” Iris commented, more of a “keep going” than an actual response.

“Anyway, he was getting his daughter my movie. I mean, not _my_ movie, but I was going to get The Lion King and I ended up getting UP so I’m probably going to be crying later.”

“Felicity, circle back to where he has a family.”

“Yup. I bet his wife is one of those women who have abs like a day after they give birth, which, all the power to them, but, _how_?”

“Felicity?”

“And, I mean, his daughter was right there! He wouldn’t flirt with someone in front of his daughter if he was married, would he? I don’t know.”

“Felicity!” Iris exclaimed. “Did you even see his wife?”

“Well no, but he was there with Addy and-“

“His daughter’s name is Addy?” Iris asked, a note in her voice Felicity had only ever heard when her friend was ‘this close to the truth’ about whatever it is she was currently investigating. It happened a lot.

“Yes. Why?” She asked.

“Oliver and Addy? Any chance their last name is Queen?”

“Oliver Queen? As in the son of-“

“Yes, how many Oliver and Addy’s could there be in Starling?” Iris asked, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

“I don’t know, a lot?” She put her wine glass down, her brain catching up with her.

(Later, she will blame on tiredness and low blood sugar her failure to recognize _Oliver Queen_. Now, her brain was doing the human body equivalent of a short circuit.)

“Are you sure that’s even his daughter’s name?” she asked, and was her voice really that breathy? 

“Adelaide Queen, nicknamed Addy. Who just celebrated her 3rd birthday along with dad, Oliver Jonas Queen, CFO of Queen Consolidated _which is where you work_. Felicity! How do you not know what your boss looks like-“

“How do you even know these things?”

“We ran an article on her birthday party last month.  Better than most sweet-sixteens let me tell you. Hang on, I’m sending you a picture.”

Felicity didn’t need to open her e-mail and take a look at the picture Iris sent, but she did it anyways. That was definitely him. In all of his blue-eyed-lumberjack glory. Boy, did she recognize him now. And his last name was on the side of the building she worked in.

Even more surprising was the fact that he was _flirting with her_.

 She’d heard the stories about Oliver Queen, of course.

Iris had to follow gossip and ‘news’ because of her job, while Anne did it for the pleasure of it, but both of her friends kept her up-to-date with the scandals in the city. And the Queens, after all, along with the Merlyns, owned basically half of it.

The entire city had been privy to that little girl’s existence a couple of years ago. She remembered her first day at QC, and how a ‘reporter’ had offered her money in exchange for information on who visited the company. (She couldn’t know, she’d explained to the man, and then told him even if she did, she wouldn’t do it. Felicity was quite proud of her eloquence in that moment.)

So she knew about Oliver Queen, and his daughter. It was hard not to.

But she never expected him to…be like that. He was unbelievably handsome, true, but there was a certain….warmth, to him. He seemed sweet and kind, on top of being just really, really hot.

“Felicity? Hello? Did you get it?” Iris voice startled her.

“Huh?” She shook her head. “Yeah.”

“So…was the most wanted _bachelor_ in Starling City flirting with you this evening?”

“Mmhm,” she nodded.

“And?”

“I need more wine.”

Persistent knocking woke him up from their afternoon nap. (He had naps now, he was a grown ass man and he had nap-time oh God). The smiling face of his sister greeted him when he opened the door.

“It’s ATT, Ollie!” she exclaimed, passing right underneath his arm and making herself at home.

“I am never calling it that,” he told her, closing the door.

“Where’s my favorite niece?” she called out, and going by the shrill squeal he heard, his daughter had woken up too. “Addy! Ready for Auntie Thea Time?”

Addy came out running from his bedroom, straight into the arms of his little sister.

“Is mom downstairs?” he asked her.

“No, she was busy with QC stuff. You know how dad has been lately.”

“I know,” he said. He couldn’t forget it if he tried. The plummeting support for QC was a constant headache on the back of his head lately.

“So, driver’s downstairs,” Thea said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Addy. “But next year, when I’m sixteen, I’m going to get my license, and then I’m driving us-“

“Absolutely nowhere,” he interrupted, dropping a kiss to his sister’s head. He trusted Thea, but he didn’t trust her quite enough to drive his baby girl around the minute she got her license. Hell, he didn’t even trust Tommy that much.

“Have fun,” he told them. “And don’t bring her back too late.”

“Done.”

“Be good for your aunt, okay?” he asked Addy.

“Okay,” she agreed, smiling sweetly. “You be good too, daddy. Okay?” She told him, waving her little finger at him.

“I’ll try,” he said, kissing her cheek as she giggled.  “Don’t damage my child,” he told Thea.

“Love you too, big brother.”

They left in a blur, and he was already having visions of Addy all grown up and following Thea everywhere. They’d need a bigger apartment for all the clothes.

He picked up a shoe and a teddy-bear from the floor on his way to the couch, and sat down with a sigh. No toddler in the loft meant utter silence, and he wasn’t used to it. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to make the best of it.

He let his head drop to the back of the couch, and then frowned, as - something…

Oliver removed a DVD case from underneath his ass.  The Lion King. They’d never returned the movie. He rubbed his hand over his face, groaning. A trip to Blockbuster was in order, and suddenly nap time didn’t sound so bad. After all, he could pay a hundred years’ worth of overdue fees.

Trying to find a good reason to get up -apart from the shame of failing to return DVDs- his mind supplied a name, along with a flash of pink lipstick. Felicity. He knew there was almost zero chance of meeting the woman again, but the possibility was enough to get him off his lazy ass and into the car, forgoing the prospect of more sleep. And well, the DVD wasn’t going to return itself.

Oliver would be lying if he said he didn’t feel disappointment when he entered the store, and after looking around for a second, saw no sign of her. It was a long shot anyways.

He returned the movie, all the while thinking that maybe he spent so long not dating he became a hermit, like Thea always accused him of being. A creepy hermit, no less.

In his defense, he didn’t have a good track record. The first time he let Tommy drag him to a night out after Sandra told him she was pregnant, she thought she’d gone into labor and couldn’t reach him. It turned out to be Braxton Hicks contractions, but it put the fear of God into him all the same.

And the first date he went out on after Addy was born: she had just turned 6 months old and he’d spent the first half of dinner relying to the woman –a redhead named Karen -how Addy was learning to sit up on her own, and how frustrated she’d look when she couldn’t do it.  He’d failed to notice the barely repressed annoyance from the woman after the first 45 minutes.

Needless to say, there had been no second date. In fact, her last words to him were something along ‘even for a billionaire, this isn’t worth it’. Afterward, Tommy had badgered him mercilessly about him turning into the guy who showed pictures of his kid to anyone who would look. Oliver didn’t answer. And he never told him how he _had_ pulled out his cell phone in the middle of the date, either.

He was about to leave the store when his eyes caught a blond ponytail on the other side of the street. His breath caught a little as he saw her approach, the hot pink lipstick visible even from afar, and a bright yellow dress. She was all screaming color.

And he was just standing there like an asshole.

He turned around and went back to the movie aisles, in an uncharacteristic flash of nervousness.

 “Hi.” A voice said behind him, a minute later, and he felt the smile spreading on his face before he even turned around.

“Felicity.”

“Oliver,” she said, smiling back at him. She was radiant. “So we meet again.”

He nodded and smiled, where were his words?

“Yeah, had to return my movie,” he said. “Thanks again, by the way, Addy loved it.” For the hundredth time.

 “No problem.” She smiled, before looking around the store. “Where is she?”

“Spending time with my sister.”

“Oh, that’s good.” She pointed behind herself. “We should get on the line, more people are coming in,” she said.

“I already returned my movie, actually,” he said. He scratched the nape of his neck. “I was going to get something else,” he quickly added, picking the first DVD his fingers made contact with.

“You were planning on renting…” she stepped around him to read the DVD he held. “Yoga for Weightloss?”

He looks down at his choice. Fuck.

“Because you seriously don’t need it,” Felicity said. The winced. “I mean not that I’ve noticed,” she rolled her eyes.

He smiled, and took a breath.

“I was actually about to leave when I saw you across the street.…I wanted to see if I could meet you again,” he said.

“Oh.”

“I know that’s sort of…” _fucking creepy,_ “I mean, I didn’t have time that first time. I just-“

“Usually I’m the one talking in sentence fragments,” she said. “Not that I know you enough, or at all, really, to know how you normally talk, and I mean, you can talk however you want-”

He let his breath out in a laugh. “I wanted to ask you out on a date. Dinner maybe?”

  

 

A date? Her stomach did these twisty little things the second he said it. Oliver Queen just asked her out. Shit.

“I work at QC!” she blurted out, somehow making it sound as though she was a serial killer. 

“Oh,” Oliver said, taken aback.

“I mean,” she tried to explain, “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t even know who you were the first time I met you.”

“I figured.”

“Oh, okay. I just, you know, found it sort of odd you of all people would rent movies from a Blockbuster. Not to say there’s anything wrong with Blockbuster, or you coming in here…”

He chuckled. “They didn’t have The Lion King on Netflix.”

“Oh, sacrilege,” she mock whispered, even as her head still ran a steady stream of _datedatedate_. With the boss of the boss of her boss, probably. “It’s just…I don’t know if that could be-“

“It’d be uncomfortable for you?” he guessed, his voice doing this completely unfair thing.

“Inappropriate,” she said finally. And she really should never open her mouth, because the way his smile dimmed made her more upset than she had right to be over a stranger. He scratched the back of his head, looking suddenly uncomfortable, and she literally could not stand it.  “But I...I’d really like to go out with you Oliver.”

“Are you sure?” His entire countenance changed in an instant. “Because the last thing I’d want to do is-“

“No it’s-“ she shook her head, smiling. “I’m sure.”

“Tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Yes,” she told him, biting her lip. His amazing eyes were completely focused on her. “Tomorrow would be perfect.”

They exchanged numbers while she paid her overdue fee, and Felicity thanked her lucky stars that she could never return a movie on time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @cinnamonirony over at tumblr and aussieforgood for reading over this for me.

“Please shave before meeting this girl,” Tommy said, plopping himself in Oliver’s bed and crossing his ankles. 

He’d called on Tommy to babysit for the evening while he went out with Felicity, and he could only hope it would go better than the time he decided ice-cream and soda was a good enough dinner. He needed things to go right tonight.

The restaurant was booked. He’d used his name to get them a table in that expensive Asian fusion place his mother liked. His suit jacket hung in front of his closet thanks to Raisa. Tommy was staying with Addy -everything was ready. Except for his face, apparently.

“What’s wrong with this?” he asked, patting his cheeks in front of the mirror. 

So he let his facial hair grow out a little. He was allowed to. Plus, there wasn’t anyone bothered by it, and not having to shave every day significantly reduced his time in the bathroom every morning, which was useful when you had a toddler to get dressed and fed before daycare.

“Ollie, you have a beard.”

“It’s not a beard, Tommy.” 

“It’s pretty damn close,” Tommy said, distaste evident in his tone. “A full blown, lumberjack dad beard.” He squinted his eyes, framing him with his hands.

“You sure this is about Felicity?” He teased. 

“Ollie.”

“C’mon, girls dig this,” he said, turning to face the bed with his arms spread. It wasn’t that bad. It gave him… _ character _ .

“Girls dig the ‘haven't shaved in two days’ look,  _ not _ the ‘if I wasn't rich I’d look like a hobo’ look.” 

Oliver turned towards the mirror in his bathroom, and saw his friend get up in the reflection, an agonized expression on his face. 

Tommy put his hands on Oliver’s shoulders, looking at him in the mirror.

“On the other hand, give it another month and you could hide snacks in there.” 

Oliver pressed his lips together.

“Okay.”

“Good call, buddy,” Tommy said, patting him on the shoulder. “So…  _ Felicity _ . You’ve told me next to nothing.”

“I have told you _nothing_ ,” he said, deadpan, as he slathered his face with shaving cream and picked up a razor. Did any of those things expire?

“Why? I'm your best friend, brother in arms…”

“You once convinced me to lick mustard off of a model.”

“A hot model,” Tommy pointed out, while Oliver just shook his head. He loved Tommy like a brother. He  _ was _ his brother, but the past few years had shown Oliver just how immature Tommy was **-** and Oliver couldn’t be anymore.

“I don’t even like mustard.”

“Addy, do you know who your dad’s meeting tonight?” Tommy ignored his answer and directed the question at his daughter, plopping down on his bed again. Addy’s dolls laid haphazardly around the corner of his room, and the girl in question was working on wrapping herself in his curtains.  

“The lady from Blockster!” she said, her little face peeking out from between the red fabric. “She’s pretty. Like a princess!”

“I see,” Tommy answered, his face the picture of seriousness at the burrito wrapped toddler.

“I’m playing princess, you wanna be a princess?”

“In just a second, hon.” Tommy raised his index finger at her, signaling for her to wait, and turned towards Oliver. “Oliver does your date work in Blockbuster?”

“No.” He turned his head to catch the edge of his jaw. “I just met her there.” 

“Not...any less concerned.” 

“How about now?” he asked, walking out of the bathroom.

“Daddy!” Addy exclaimed, untangling herself from the curtains. “Your face is no furry no more.”

“See, Oliver? Not furry,” Tommy said, a sardonic smile on his face. Oliver rolled his eyes.

“What is that on your face,” Tommy said suddenly. Shit, had he nicked his skin? That hadn’t happened since he was in college. “I can finally see it properly without the roadkill hugging your chin,” Tommy continued. “A smile! A _ girl _ smile. This woman must be a stunner.”

Oliver was not impressed.

“You might want to tone it down a little, it’s slightly serial killer-y,” Tommy qualified. 

“Very funny.“ He chuckled humorlessly. “You’re a  _ dick, _ ” he mouthed, and resumed buttoning up his shirt. 

“Hey, what color tie should I wear?” He asked out loud. “ _ Should _ I wear a tie?”

“Oh, man.” Came Tommy’s horrified whisper.  “Ads, honey,” Tommy picked the girl up and sat her on the mattress next to him. “Look I'm worried about your daddy, I think we need to stage an intervention.”

“Inter-tion,” she tried to say. Oliver smiled despite himself.

“Intervention, yes.” Tommy straightened up. “When good ol’ Tom Tom-”

“Don’t call yourself that, it’s weird,” Oliver interrupted.

“When your godfather sets something up he’s all ‘no, I have responsibilities!’” he told Addy, who honestly was not paying any sort of attention to him. “But now…” Tommy waved his hands up and down Oliver’s dark blue suit.

“Ever stop to think there’s a reason for that?” he asked. Tommy had the  decency to look chagrined- before he pointed a finger at Oliver and schooled his features into the same crap that got him bailed out of jail.

“ _ I’m hurt. _ ”

“How do I look? Honestly.”

“Pop a button …or three. you look like you're trying too hard,” Tommy said. Something must have shown on Oliver’s face, because he backtracked. “I'm kidding! It’ll be fine man, she’ll love you.”

“I’d be okay with not scaring her away,” Oliver said.  _ Like the last few times I went out _ , he didn’t add. He wasn’t exactly a woman magnet these days, and he wasn’t going to screw up the first date he’d actually wanted to go on in forever.  He picked up Addy, and she happily touched his now smooth cheeks.

“I’m going to be gone for a little while, okay? And you’re going to stay with uncle Tommy,” he reminded her. Now that she was old enough to understand that he was coming back, he didn’t feel as guilty leaving. 

“I wanna go!” She exclaimed. 

“We talked about this, okay?” He walked out of his room and unlatched the gate at the top of the stairs. 

“But Blockster!” Addy complained, pouting, and he just made out Tommy behind him saying,  _ ‘Jesus, it’s like Thea number two.” _

“I’m not going to the movie place without you, okay? I’d never do that. I’m just having dinner with my friend. Lots of vegetables.”

“Yuck!” She scrunched up her button nose.

“And you and uncle Tommy are going to have some chocolate, and play, and watch a movie, and -” he threw a look over his shoulder at Tommy- “you can even use Aunt Thea’s make-up on him.”

“Lipstick?” she asked. She’d watched Thea applying some a few days ago, and ever since she’d loved to play with it. Oliver himself had been her canvas more than once -and the lipstick never stayed on the lips. He smiled to himself.

“Yes, all the lipstick.” He unlatched the gate at the bottom of the stairs and walked into the living room. “I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

Addy didn’t meet his eyes, still pouting. If it was anyone his mother or Tommy had set him up with waiting at the restaurant -he would’ve canceled in a heartbeat. But he didn’t want to stand _her_ up. 

“Okay?” he asked again, meeting her bright green eyes. 

“Okay,” she said, begrudgingly. 

“I love you,” he reminded her, pressing a kiss to her chubby cheek. And then, because he couldn’t possibly leave with her not smiling, blew a raspberry too. She giggled, and he set her down.

“Lipstick? Ollie.” Tommy looked like a man about to go to war. “Ollie.” 

“Have fun!”

  
  
  


She was not having fun. There was no part of her having any sort of a good time right now.

Felicity’s eyes had nearly popped out of her skull when she saw the name of the expensive as all hell restaurant, she’d had a small breakdown over what to wear, and in the ten minutes she’d waited by herself before Oliver arrived her mind had come up with a thousand different scenarios -all involving him standing her up and her ending the night drowning her sorrows in ice-cream. 

But now that he was right in front of her, it didn’t feel any better.

He’d gone in for a kiss on the cheek and she’d somehow ended up hugging him-  _ it was all real muscle _ \- and she was still internally cringing.

Her whole body thrummed with nervousness. Felicity swore she could feel the eyes of every woman - and some of the men , too, probably, - on her back. It made her jittery, and he said nothing after telling her she looked amazing. Had she answered him? Shit.

“I…”

“Welcome to The Red Door.” The waiter broke through their little ball of awkwardness, and she was so very thankful. He laid two menus in front of them and left after taking Oliver’s order for a glass Scotch. She’d just managed to squeak out a request for a glass of water -alcohol wasn’t going to mix well with the benzos Anne had dropped in her hand before she left.  

“Have you ever been here before?” Oliver asked. And… ugh, it was so unfair. He looked like a God, his eyes so very blue and focused on her.

“No,” she said. The place cost more or less half a month of rent.  

“The waiting list was full, but I managed to get us a table,” he said. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say after that.  _ Thank you?  _ That would be weird. _ Weirder than over-thinking everything you say?  _ Her hands were sweating.

The waiter came back before she knew it, and after a quick look at the menu, she had no idea what to order. She really should have picked up Iris’ love for sushi, maybe it would have helped her understand what it all was.

Of course, Oliver probably came here everyday. He ordered something -she wasn’t sure what- and then the waiter looked expectantly at her. 

“…and for the lady?”

“She’ll have the Gong Bao chicken,” Oliver  said, before she could ask the man to recommend her something.  The waiter nodded and wrote it down. Was there even chicken in the menu?  _ Where?   _ And she could order for herself! “It’s great, you’ll love it.” Oliver told her, but it still made her uncomfortable.

“And your best bottle of white,” Oliver added.

“I prefer red, actually,” she spoke up, not wanting to feel quite as small as she did then. Was it that obvious she didn’t belong here?

“Red it is.” Oliver said, nodding to the waiter.

It was a little tense after that, even more awkward than before. He tried to initiate small talk, but she was careful not to babble away so her answers were mostly a few words. 

She asked how Addy was doing, but after a few moments where he finally looked like the man she’d met a few days ago- sweet and kind, the warmth that seemed to come over him finally starting to put her at ease-  he stopped himself and asked about her work. And that was fine, Felicity thought. _ I’m a stranger. Who would talk about their kid to strangers?  _

So she answered him, and somehow it turned into a one sided discussion about next-gen computers, that she wasn’t sure would have stopped if the waiter hadn’t appeared with their food. It was indeed good, but her dress -borrowed from Iris-  was skin tight, and she knew if she ate too much it would show and it was stressing her out.

It was… it was all wrong. It was like the man she’d met a few days ago, who she’d talked to just yesterday, had been taken over by pod-people. Hidden beneath layers of expensive suit and - _ damn _ \- really good cologne. 

The conversation felt stilted and awkward, she was still seething a little about him ordering for her without even asking, and she suddenly had to pee. 

Felicity thought she’d feel like she was in a goddamn movie, where she got her perfect meeting, and a perfect date, and a good night kiss. It was supposed to be easy. Her phone vibrated in her purse, and her hands almost blurred with how fast she moved to grab it, glad for the reprieve from the tense atmosphere.

That’s how she knew the date was really bad. When she picked her cell phone over the hot guy sitting across from her. Oh God. Felicity felt robbed.

It was just her mom, and Felicity had never been so happy that her mother texted her - which cemented the feeling for the evening. But she was determined to see this through, and she would try her best, damn it.

“You have a sister, right?” She mentioned, and he looked almost startled. They’d been eating quietly for the past god-awful 10 minutes. “I mean… you said your daughter was spending time with your sister…”

“Yes, yeah. Her name’s Thea,” he said, smiling to himself, and that was a look she definitely wished to see on him. “She’s fifteen.”

“Oh, growing up it was just me and my mom. I always wanted a sibling,” she said. And… not really. She always understood that her mother didn’t have enough money to support the two of them, much less another human being, which is why Felicity never asked for so much as a dog. But she still said it. It seemed like the sort of thing to say.

“So… you didn’t have one? A sibling, I mean. You're an only child?” Oliver asked, and Felicity felt the small flash of hope for the date being salvageable curl on itself and die. 

“Yup.” She answered. 

When dessert came, she was glad. 

Oliver was an absolute gentleman, paying for dinner -Felicity didn’t even want to think of how much it cost- and pulling her chair out for her.

The cool air of the evening ruffled her hair when she stepped outside, and Felicity wrapped her arms around herself. All she wanted was to go home, drink some more  wine, call her friends, and file the night away into her mental recycle bin. 

It sucked. And she knew he knew it sucked, if his expression was any indication. 

“I’m going to…” She pointed behind her. “The valet.”

“Oh, sure.” 

“Uh… thank you for dinner.” she said, but even to her own ears it sounded kind of flat. 

“Don’t mention it,” he said. Oliver tried to smile, and it looked a little like an apology, and even more like a grimace. He looked a little lost, but less strung up than inside, as if the air around him had changed. “Good night, Felicity.” 

He took her hand gently in his -and the spark of electricity that woke up her nerves almost made her crazy enough to want to give it another try. 

“Night.”  She rose up in the tips of her toes, grabbing his forearm for balance, and kissed his cheek, the skin smooth and warm beneath her lips. _ God, he smelled ridiculously good. _

He was smiling when she pulled back. An honest smile. And t his definitely ranked in her top 5 list of most uncomfortable dates, but the look on his face then- 

God, it almost made up for at least half of it. A pang of regret spread through her chest at the night not turning out how she’d hoped.

 

  
  
“How’d it go?” Tommy asked, the minute he stepped into the loft.

Oliver didn’t answer, just dropped his suit jacket on the back of a kitchen chair. He stretched his neck from side to side, feeling a couple of kinks in it. 

“That well?”

“Addy?” he asked, ignoring the question. 

“Out like a light,” Tommy said. “My man, you look like you need a beer.” Oliver plopped down on the couch.

“You know I don’t have beer in the house,” he said. Tommy sat down next to him.

“So, what happened? She had nothing going on up here?” He tapped his forehead. 

“No, she’s brilliant,” Oliver said, probably the smartest woman he’d ever met -and in a way that wasn’t belittling or arrogant. ”And she looked perfect.” He scrubbed his hand across his face.

“You went all Super Dad on her and she got tired? I keep telling you man, that doesn’t foster a romantic atmosphere.”

“I didn’t. And what would you know about romance anyways?”

“I’ll ignore that because your face is pitiful,” Tommy said. “So…” He waved his hand, motioning for him to go on.

“I don’t know. It was just awkward.” He shrugged. “I could tell she didn't really want to be there.”

“And you did?” Tommy asked, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “I don’t mean with  _ her. _ It’s just, you don’t like that restaurant.”

“My mom loves it,” Oliver mentioned. 

Tommy looked at him like that was reason enough not to go.

_ Oh, come on.  _ The women in his family had good taste, it was something he could count on. He actually hoped Addy had inherited it and would appear eventually, as one too many of his shirts had been lost to permanent markers.

“What are you saying? That I should have, what? Taken her to the park?” He thought of Felicity’s warm eyes as they stood outside of the restaurant… she’d looked gorgeous under the streetlights. Maybe Tommy wasn’t that far off. 

But he still doubted, remembering all the photos of himself littering Star City’s magazines. He had a reputation to uphold. “How would  _ that _ be for a headline.”

“ _ ’Oliver Queen gets back in the game with a romantic stroll under the stars’  _ Not too shabby, actually. _ ”  _ Tommy spread his hands in front of him. “ _ ’He also learns to ask his family and friends for advice’ _ ”

“Thea told me to take Felicity to meet the Jonas Brothers. And then asked if I would take her too, while I was at it.”

“Yeah, so maybe not your little sister,” Tommy shrugged, chuckling, but Oliver didn’t join in. “I haven’t seen you this bummed out since Addy’s first word wasn’t daddy. You really like this girl, huh?”

“I don’t know… there was just something about her.” And he blew it. He used to be good at this, damn. But then, he’d never actually tried to make a date work so there’d be a second one. It was uncharted territory. 

“Well, Maybe it was for the best,” Tommy said, clapping him on the shoulder. “And it’s good that you're putting yourself out there again. The right woman will come along.” Tommy shook his head. “And… I never thought I’d say that.”

“Maybe I should wait until Addy’s a little older-”

“No. As your best friend I am  _ not _ letting that happen,” Tommy said vehemently. Oliver wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.

“I'm gonna go check on her,” he said. He stood up and dropped his keys and cell phone on the coffee table, which Tommy immediately picked up.

“What are you doing?“

“I spent two hours wearing a tiara, Ollie. And I’m not going to lie, it suits me, but now you're here and the night’s still young. You still have that baby-sitter’s number, right? The redhead with-”

“Don’t get me a sexual harassment lawsuit. Please.” Oliver begged, and retreated up the stairs, leaving Tommy to his own devices on the couch.

“Not sure it works like that!”

  
  
  
“And then he ordered for me.” Felicity prepared herself for the blaze of righteous anger from her best friends. They’d been dissecting her kiss/hug flounder for the past 10 minutes, and were just now moving to the rest of the date. 

“The hell?” Anne asked.

“He asked you first, right?” Iris intervened. “Or, at least recommended you something-”

“I mean, I had no idea what all of it meant and maybe it was obvious.” Disaster or not, she still felt the need to protect Oliver.

“Still unacceptable!” 

“Anne-”

“Did you say anything like  _ ‘hey buddy, I’ve got a brain of my own, thanks’ _ ?” Anne asked.

“No?” Felicity answered.  “It was just awkward, like really awkward- have I ever been to The Red Door? No! Your company doesn't pay me enough for-”

“God, Felicity, you didn't actually say that, did you?” Iris said, and even through the phone Felicity could feel the cringe.

“I don't think so…” she said. “Maybe not exactly like that?”

“Fuck.” Anne eloquently put it. Felicity was inclined to agree.

“We… couldn't find anything to talk about. Yes, the weather was nice. No, there wasn’t much traffic.”

“How about that cute baby of his?” Anne said.

“I asked. He said two words and changed the subject.” 

“Your work?” Iris asked.

“I might have veered off into tech talk-”

“And don’t we all love it when  _ that  _ happens,” Anne said. 

“ _ But _ I stopped myself!” Felicity exclaimed. And it had been an herculean effort to, give her some credit. “Plus, I didn’t babble the rest of the night, not once. I made sure of it.” Her friend had told her more than once how it turned people off, and she hadn’t done it, damn it.

“Iris, what was that you said about unreliable narrators…”

“Was it really that bad?” Iris asked her, not taking the bait. “You said he seemed nice…”

“It wasn’t just Oliver pod-person.” She groaned. “I swear to God half the restaurant was staring at me, and the dress was too tight, and I’m pretty sure I looked three months pregnant by the time I was done with dessert. And how would that be for a headline?

“What was it?” Iris inquired.

“Huh?”

“Dessert?” 

“Cheesecake. I stress ate it.” Iris’ hum of appreciation made her smile.

“So, no chemistry,” Anne said.

“It’s not that. I kissed him goodnight - _ on the cheek _ -” she added, for her friend’s benefit. “And God, there were literally sparks. I mean, not  _ literally-” _

_ “ _ Shush,” Anne cut her off. “I’ve got two words for you: Fuck. Buddies.”

“Ugh, Anne.”

“I’m just saying-”

“Was he douche-y?” Iris interrupted. “You just went on a date with Ollie Queen, F. He’s got a reputation.”

“No, he was… weird, maybe. But not in an asshole way.”

“Maybe he was as nervous as you were,” Iris said.

“Doubtful,” Felicity answered. How could someone who looks like that ever be nervous about going on a date with  _ her _ ? 

“You underestimate the power of your looks,” Anne said. “You’re hot, babe.”

“I don't feel like getting complimented right now, Anne. I just want to cringe at myself.”  _ And drown myself in ice-cream and BBC shows _ , but she needed to get through a round of free therapy first.

“Well, tough shit. I’ll be there in 20 with Iris and Jose.”

“Cuervo?” she asked hopefully.

“No, your landlord,” Anne said, deadpan. 

Iris’s laughter and the discount wine soothed a little of the evening’s sting of disappointment for Felicity, still fresh on her mind and looking like a pair of guarded blue eyes.

  
  
  


The owl night light on the wall spread a soft blue hue across the darkened room. 

He sat down at the foot of the small bed, his side touching the bed rails. There was a stain of what seemed like chocolate on the collar of her otherwise white pajamas, and she clutched the stuffed sea lion the Lances had given her for her birthday. 

He brushed her hair away from her forehead, and she scrunched her nose. She blinked sleepily up at him.

“Daddy?” 

“Hey. Sorry to wake you.”

She sat up and crawled into his lap, settling herself there. His arms instantly came around her as she burrowed in further, falling right back to sleep. He felt so much love for this one tiny person, and it was really the only thing that mattered. 

Oliver would never have expected this to be his life, but he was so infinitely glad that it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm absolutely blown away by the response this fic got! Thank you to everyone who commented/bookmarked it/left kudos. It feels amazing.  
> I've been figuring out an updating schedule, and from now on updates will be twice a week on Saturdays and Tuesdays. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, now that we're actually moving with the story. Let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Felicity pressed her face to the mattress, groaning. 

“I still don’t get why we _have_ to go out.”

She raised her head, pleading with Anne. And -ugh, it was a dirty shirt underneath her face. She really needed to do laundry.

“I saw you looking at cat pictures on your cell phone yesterday. As your friend, I'm not letting one bad date set you down that path,” Anne explained, applying bronzer to her already perfect olive skin. The sound of Iris getting dressed emerged from the bathroom, and all in all, Felicity was not very excited about moving from her current spot on her bed.

“ _You_ have a cat,” she reminded her.

“I also have regular human interaction,” Anne backfired, and Felicity sighed. She threw the dirty shirt to the pile behind the door before laying back down.

“Why this club?” she asked, her voice muffled by the comforter.

“Why not?” 

Felicity shrugged as much as she was able from her position. “This isn’t our usual club.” She looked up. “Did you sleep with the bartender at our place? Are we all banned again because of your indiscretions?”

“That was _one time_ ,” Anne said.

“It was pretty priceless, though.” Came Iris’ voice from the bathroom. 

“Public indiscretion money can’t buy, for everything else there’s MasterCard,” Felicity said, smiling. 

“We just think it’ll be good for you,” Iris said softly, her face peeking out of the bathroom. 

“Yeah… a change of routine,” Anne said. "You've been pretty bummed out lately."

Felicity looked at the both of them, her gaze switching between the equally beautiful -and guilty looking?- faces. Iris quickly swooped back inside the bathroom.

“What are you up to?” Felicity asked carefully.

Anne bit her lip and said nothing. 

“Don’t try to set me up with someone,” Felicity begged. She was in no mood to go on another date after the epic fail with Oliver, which she was still more than upset about. She was done with dating, she was smart enough to build herself a droid. “Please, your cousin scared me already.”

“He scared all of us, to be honest,” Iris supplied.

“It’s not like that,” Anne said, then raised her shoulders. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?” Felicity asked, slightly alarmed. She sat up straight, intent on finding out what ‘ _mostly_ ’ meant, when Iris walked out of the bathroom.

“All done! How do I look?” she asked.

“Hot.” 

“I’d marry you.” 

“Just what I was going for,” Iris said, laughing, and then zoned in on Felicity, who still lay on her bed in her comfiest pair of pajamas and a tank top.

“Come on, Felicity, your turn.”

Felicity groaned, wondering if maybe she could have used the ‘peer pressure’ talk from her mother after all.  

Iris plopped down in her bed next to her, fingers poking at her side. “Come on, come on!”

Laughing, Felicity stood up and vanished into the bathroom. . 

 

  
  
Oliver took the rhino from Addy’s hands, very carefully putting him next to its friends on the couch.

“Not there,” Addy said.

“Oh, okay.” He moved the stuffed animal to the other side. “Here?”

“Mmm…” She thought about it, and Oliver repressed a smile. “Yeah.” She ran back to her playroom, her socks slipping on the hardwood floors a little, and he held himself back from telling her not to run. There’s probably nothing he hated more as a child. 

He sat back on the couch, nestled between the rhino and a princess, two teddy bears, and Kermit the Frog. 

Tommy looked at the scene with one of his usual smiles, part genuine care and part pure mockery. 

“That’s _adorable_.”

Addy came running back, her little face flushed. 

“Here!” she exclaimed, a Buzz Lightyear plush in her outstretched hand. 

“Thank you. And he goes next to…?”

“Kermit!”

“Okay.” Oliver set the stuffed toy next to the others on the couch. “Wait!” He caught Addy by the shirt before she could run off again, and took off her socks. She got to running again the second he set her foot down.

“So, Ollie.” Tommy sat down next to him, putting Buzz and Kermit in his lap. “When was the last time you were in a loud,vibrant place full of other human beings?”

Oliver looked at him with a familiar expression. He was not in the mood for Tommy’s antics.

“You mean a club,” he said, ignoring the question. “Those are some big words. Who bought you a word of the day calendar?” 

“When was it, huh?” Tommy gave a quick look to the door of Addy’s playroom, making sure she wasn’t coming back yet. “And fucking _Chuck E. Cheese's_ does not count.”

Oliver decided to humor him. 

“Fine.” Oliver thought about it, before his date with Felicity the week before he’d… he snapped his fingers as he remembered. Tommy would never let it go if he included work dinners. “A couple months ago,” he said finally, pointing at Tommy. “El Sotano, that club downtown.”

“For Thea’s birthday!” Tommy exclaimed. “When your mother agreed to rent out a nightclub for your sister and two dozen fifteen year olds.”

Addy came back, handed Tommy a Sock Monkey, and left again. She looked like a girl on a mission.

“Come on, Ollie. Just you and me, like old times,” he said with grandeur. Oliver did not miss the irony of Tommy begging him to go clubbing with him with three stuffed animals on his lap.  But Oliver simply wasn’t feeling up for going out. He’d denied it to Tommy every time, but he hadn’t stopped thinking about Felicity, and it didn’t leave him in the best of moods.

“Ads can stay with a sitter for an hour or two,” Tommy said.

Oliver shook his head. “You know I don't like-”

“Or Thea.” Tommy offered. “I can have your sister and a box of pizza here in an hour.”

Oliver sighed, doubtful. It’s not that he didn’t want to spend time with Tommy, but he wasn’t very keen on leaving Addy, either. He already had to work, and even though his hours were shorter than what the board and his father would like, he was her only parent, and he never wanted her to feel alone. 

“Have a drink with me. Come on. We haven’t been out in forever,” Tommy complained, undignified. It sounded very close to a whine actually, and it reminded Oliver of his daughter. Maybe that’s where she picked it up from. “I miss my best friend.” 

The bastard.

“Fine,” Oliver said. 

“What was that?” Tommy asked, pressing his hand to his chest in dramatic surprise.

“I said fine, okay.” Oliver chuckled. “Fine!”

Tommy threw his arm over Oliver’s shoulders, and slapped his chest, laughing. 

“Atta boy!”

 

 

Felicity methodically dried her hair in front of the mirror. It was almost relaxing. After a few days of expecting her co-workers to tell her they saw a picture of her in a gossip rag, or that they stumbled upon an article about her and Oliver’s date online, she was a little tense.  Getting dubbed Oliver Queen’s flavor of the week was not a goal of hers. Thankfully a week had gone by, and Felicity was cautiously optimistic that no one would ever know and she could finally relax. 

And she was going to do just that tonight. She was going out with her friends, and having a few drinks, and staying away from any other prospective dates. Easy.

She had her hand on the handle of the door, ready to inform them of her change in mood, when she heard Iris speaking in a hushed tone.

“I don't like lying to her.” Iris said, and Felicity’s stomach turned.

“This is going to be good for her.” Anne answered.

“Whatever happened to… bros before hoes?” 

“You hate that saying,” Anne said.

“Yes, it’s sexist and gross, and dehumanizes women,” Iris said. “Point is, Felicity is our best friend, and in this situation Oliver Queen is the hoe.”

“If TMZ didn’t photoshop his pictures back in the day, he is most definitely a hoe.” 

“Anne!”

“It’s not the same context.” Anne told her. Felicity had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t like it. “And we’re not putting him above her! This is in Felicity’s best interests.”

“Spoken like a true lawyer-”

Felicity burst out of the bathroom, in a much less cool fashion than she’d hoped.

“What did you do?” she asked carefully, looking straight at Anne.

“Oh, come on! It could have been Iris’ idea.” She defended herself.

“Unlikely! You’re always the Sith and she’s the Jedi!” Felicity told her, and was met by both of her friend’s utterly confused expressions. “It means-”

“Tommy Merlyn called me,” Anne said, and Felicity got the sense she confessed solely to avoid her explanation of Star Wars again, because the last time she-

“Wait, _what?!_ ” 

“Well, he called you actually, a couple of days ago. But you were in the shower so I answered, same thing,” she shrugged, then looked positively horrified. “God…I’m explaining this the way you do. Is it contagious?” 

Felicity was not impressed. In fact, she was still reeling with the fact that  _ Thomas Merlyn had called her cell phone! _ She was sure her face showed it all, because Anne was quick to explain.

“He was so sweet, babe. He said Oliver was really broken up about your date not going that well-”

“Understatement.” Felicity interrupted, but Anne was not deterred.

“And that maybe you should give it another try.”

“Oliver’s going to be at the club, isn't he?” Felicity asked, and her stomach clenched, nervous energy thrumming through her system.  “Anne, what kind of friend are you?! No, wait, _I know._ Iris!”

So far Iris had stayed out of the confrontation, but Felicity wasn’t giving her a free pass. 

“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed from her place at the corner of the bed, but Felicity was not going to be swayed by her puppy eyes tonight. “You know how I’m a sucker for happy endings.”

“Smoak! A really hot billionaire wants in your pants,” Anne said. Felicity was not thinking about what those words did to her, but the blush that instantly painted her cheeks was enough explanation.

“And what? I should just let him?”

“No, you should climb him like a tree,” Anne explained. “Like, pro-actively-”

“Anne-”

“Iris-”

“Felicity!” Felicity herself exclaimed. “ _I’m_ the one who’s going to die of embarrassment.”

“Felicity, my beautiful nerd,” Anne laid her hands on Felicity’s shoulders. Iris snorted. “This is like that time I met Channing Tatum-”

“I’m pretty sure that wasn't-”

“It only comes once in a lifetime. Let’s go to the club, have some drinks. Maybe his friend couldn't get him to go. All I know is I’m not wasting this dress, and you already put in your contacts, so…” She shrugged. “Might as well.”

“ _Iris_ ,” Felicity pleaded, hoping that she would be the voice of reason. She needed someone to tell her to stay home. Desperately. Her heart beat faster at the mere thought of seeing Oliver again.

“I'm on your side,” Iris said, and Felicity felt a small twinge of disappointment. This is what she wanted, right? “But…you did say he didn't seem like himself during your date. And you were so excited about going out with him! Maybe he was nervous. We all know you were. Maybe you get a do-over. And Anne is right, he might not even be there at all.”

Felicity bit her lip. She couldn’t deny the pure, senseless excitement that flooded her when she thought about meeting Oliver’s amazing eyes again. But she’d have to be crazy to put herself through the hell-of-awkwardness that was that failed date. Still, a part of her wanted to do it.  

And, anyway, she was fighting a losing battle.

“You say the word, and we’ll be out of there.” Iris promised.

“You’re evil,” Felicity said, repressing a smile.

“You love us,” Iris told her. And damn, she wasn’t wrong.

 

 

The noise, the cars, the lights…It all felt awfully familiar and strangely alien all at once. Tommy was right, he hadn’t set foot in a club in close to a year, and until now, he hadn’t realized there was a small part of him that missed it. Not the girls or the booze, necessarily…but the feeling of complete abandon everyone seemed to have while inside.

There was a ridiculously long line outside the doors of the club. College students, the odd group of middle aged men, girls that definitely didn’t look old enough to drink. It was a true statement to how much Oliver had changed in the last three years. Instead of looking for the most beautiful woman to get her ahead of the line and later enjoy her gratitude, he felt oddly compelled to call their parents. It was starting to rain.

And to be perfectly honest, there was only one woman in his head lately, who he really had to stop thinking about.

A quick nod to the bouncer got them both inside, and Oliver realized it was less of a high class club than they were used to. It was still quite early, and the club wasn’t at full capacity. Even so, the rhythmic beat of the music was loud, and the lights were dimmed to betray the fact that the sun had yet to set outside. 

He looked at Tommy, who seemed to be searching for someone on the dance floor. His mood changed.

“You said no girls!” he told Tommy over the music.

“Don’t kill me for this!” Tommy said.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, and Tommy nodded towards the dance floor. Oliver had no idea what he was on about, and half-expected some woman to walk up to him but no one was there. His eyes ran over the mass of bodies, and he was about ask him what he meant -when he saw her. 

She was standing next to a table, a little way off the dance floor. The lights bounced off the gold dress she wore. He could barely see her through the throng of pulsating bodies, but there was no mistaking her, even if he had never seen her with her hair down. 

Felicity stood next to two dark haired women, and she laughed at something one of them said in her ear. 

Behind him, Tommy had disappeared. Oliver’s feet were moving before he even realized it.

He could have asked her to dance.

“Felicity,” he greeted her.

He could have bought her a drink.

“Oliver,” she said, eyes wide.

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” he asked her instead, and it was so much better.

 

 

The ‘no’ was at the tip of her tongue. 

When Iris had pointed at the dance floor and she’d seen him walking towards her, her insides had done gymnastics, falling in one fell swoop. A sudden burst of panic made her hands sweat.

He looked unreal, somehow out of place yet at ease among the sweaty people and the bright lights overhead.  And then he was right in front of her, waiting for an answer. And Felicity didn’t know what it would be yet.

He said a quick hello to Anne and Iris, who swiftly disappeared with a pinch at her waist.

The ‘no’ was at the tip of her tongue, but Felicity couldn’t ignore the feeling she got just from being near him, and seeing a genuine smile take over his face. 

“Okay.”

She followed him, grabbing his arm so she wouldn’t lose him in the crowd, and it sent a thrill through her. It was probably the weirdest question she had been asked inside a club, but nothing felt wrong about it, not like their date. 

Outside, the pavement was darkened by water. It must have drizzled while she was inside, and the air smelled fresh and sweet. They walked along the slightly damp street, the air thrumming between them. 

“I-” 

“Do you-”

Felicity bit her lip, smiling. “You first,” she said.

“Did Tommy ask you to come here today?” he asked.

“You didn’t know? Of course you didn’t know,” Felicity muttered. “No, it was my friend, actually. Ex-roomate.  _ Schemer supreme _ .”

Oliver chuckled at her tone, and it was something she could really get used to hearing.

“You did know, though… and you came,” he said carefully.

“They dragged me,” she said without thinking, and his face fell. “Not that I wouldn't want to see you again, it’s just-”

“No, I get it,” he was quick to add. “That night was…”

“Awkward.” Felicity finished his sentence. It was nice to put that out in the open. Not that it wasn’t absolutely obvious, but it didn’t feel like they were pretending anymore. Felicity realized now that’s exactly what it felt like at The Red Door.

“I wanted to apologize about that.” Oliver said, plunging his hands deep in his pockets.

“It’s okay, I don't remember you being the one to complain about the DMV for 10 minutes,” she said.

“To be fair, the DMV is pretty awful.”

“Have you ever even been?” Felicity asked him, teasing.

“Yes! I didn't have to wait, though.”

“There it is,” she said smiling. There was no bite in her tone, but she still noticed how he stopped for just a second, looking out of the corner of his eye.

They walked until they reached the edge of the block, where a wall looked over the bay below. She rested her forearms on the cool stone, and after a moment, Oliver mimicked her. The silence was companionable instead of uncomfortable, and Felicity was so very glad about it, _and_ nervous.

“Oliver… why did you ask me out?” she asked him suddenly.

“That’s… a question.” he said, scratching the nape of his neck. She didn’t mean to put him on the spot, but she needed to know.  _ Did it mean anything? _ Was there was something she could tell her stomach so it would stop doing jumping jacks?

“You were… different,” he said. 

“Different?” Felicity turned to look at him. “Like barbecue chips are different from regular chips?” she asked, and he smiled. 

“And you looked beautiful,” he said. A flutter of warmth flooded her belly. 

“I’d just run two blocks, I’m pretty sure I had sweat stains,” she said flippantly, and then cringed. “Not that I’m putting myself down to get a compliment out of you, by the way.”

“All right.” He chuckled. “And that, too, by the way. People aren’t usually that… _ honest. _ ” He looked at her, and the play of the street lights on his eyes was criminal. “And you were nice to Addy.”

“She’s easy to be nice to,” Felicity said quickly. But she couldn’t help but think,  _ a woman is nice to your daughter so you spend a few hundred dollars on dinner? _

“I mean genuinely nice,” he said, as if he’d heard her. “Not cooing to her to flirt with me, or pinching her cheeks, or talking to her like she’s a baby.”

“Would it harm my case if I said that I wanted to, just a little bit?” Felicity asked, scrunching her nose. “She’s adorable.”

Oliver smiled.

“I liked talking to you. I wanted to do it more.” He said it as if it was simple, and maybe it was. “You were the first person in, I can't even remember how long, who didn’t know who I was, and who had no… preconceived ideas about me.”

“I did know who you were when you asked me out, though,” Felicity said. “If I remember correctly, I announced it to half the store like you were an ax murderer.” 

“You still didn't… treat me differently, I guess. Or expected me to be a certain way because my last name is Queen. I can tell when people do. You were real.  I don't- I'm not very good at explaining it.” 

She got  it. She met more than one person that decided she was stupid based on her appearance. More than one supervisor who thought a woman couldn't possibly know his shit better than him. The scholarship kid, the goth, the nerd… plenty of people had expected things from her based on judgments at first glance. She couldn’t  imagine anyone  judging who you were even before they’d met you.

“Everyone expects something from me,” Oliver said, and he wasn’t looking at her anymore, not really. “My mother wants me to be this picture of perfection, my father presses me about work, my sister wants me to be a buffer between her and my parents and I can’t give her as much time as I want. My best friend expects me to be the same person I was 4 years ago, but I’m not. And all my daughter wants is for me to cuddle her and feed her macaroni and cheese, and I'm dreading the day that won't be enough.”

_ When was the last time he let go and told this to someone? _ Felicity asks herself.

“I was raised by a single mom who worked as a showgirl in Vegas. I know all about expectations set for you,” she said, laying her hand on his arm. He looked surprised, as if he hadn’t meant to say all of what he did. “Our situations might be…  _ wildly _ different, but I think I can understand.”

“I did all of that…” Without him saying the words she knew he meant the restaurant and their awful date. “Because… I thought it was what you wanted from me. What you expected.” He met her eyes.  “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to waste your-”

“Do you want to go to Big Belly?” she asked in a rush. And then kept going, before her courage failed her. “I meant it as a second date kind of thing, but I'm actually really in the mood for a milkshake right now. What do you say?”

He looked so surprised, and it did nothing to calm the flutter in her stomach.

“You really want another date with me?” he asked in disbelief.

“As long as you don’t order my burger for me,” she said flippantly, and he cringed, his cheeks flushing a healthy pink.  _ God have mercy on her. _

He laughed, embarrassed. " Then yes, I’d love to go grab a milkshake with you.”

“Good,” she said.

“Great,” he reciprocated the sentiment, and Felicity wondered how they looked just stupidly smiling at each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

Seven minutes later found them ditching their friends, flagging down a cab, and heading to the nearest Big Belly Burger, getting off on the right foot this time.

“Was your mother really a showgirl?”

“Oh yes, and I have the  pictures to prove it. She didn’t leave the stage until her belly popped.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally getting to the good stuff! I hope you like it and let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

They talked for hours.

She’d regaled him with colorful stories of her mother’s days as a showgirl, which somehow had shifted to his brush up with the law for public indecency, and his failed attempts at college.

It had been surprisingly easy for Felicity. She never had a very good time at dates, she’d much rather know someone for a while and then give it a shot, but Oliver was different. After being so unguarded with her on the street outside of the club, it seemed as if all his pretenses had fallen away, and she had a clear view of the real man underneath. It was a view she enjoyed very much.

He told her how his daughter had learned to walk, and the story of her first words, and Felicity had never seen such pure love shining out of anyone’s eyes. It was mesmerizing.

What followed was probably some of the weirdest, greatest couple of days of her adult life.

Oliver had texted her that same night, after Anne and Iris had squeezed information out of her. He used _emojis_. It was equal parts endearing and surprising, and she started feeling more eager for his good morning texts than for her cup of coffee-quite a feat in itself.

It was strange to think of him as _Oliver Queen, CFO of Queen Consolidated_ , tough she objectively knew they were the same person, when he sent her a selfie with cheerios stuck to his cheek.

It felt like a wonderful secret to be privy to that part of him, the man that not a lot of people had the privilege to get to know.

 

Felicity was halfway through upgrading the local area network for her floor when the smell of takeout hit her, rousing her senses and reminding her that she’d missed her lunch hour yet again. She was about to ask her torturer to step away when she met a pair of blue eyes.

Oliver stood at the door, arms laden with takeout. There was a bag from her favorite Thai restaurant and one from Big Belly.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, a smile spreading across her face.

“I thought, I’m only 18 floors above you,” he left the bags on her desk and she resisted the need to make grabby hands at them. “…so maybe I could come down and have lunch with you.”

He looked positively smitten, and that almost sent her into overdrive.

“Are you in the middle of something? I thought lunch hour was the same for everyone-”

“Yeah, it is! Everyone’s at the cafeteria right now. I was just… doing some work. You’re very welcome here.”

“Okay,” he said, biting her lip.

He sat next to her, and for the first time she actually realized her office was tiny. Though it could have simply being how he was sitting so close she could feel the warmth that radiated off him. She felt her cheeks warm, and hoped the blue glow from her computers would hide the evidence she felt like a school girl. Her tech had yet to fail her.

They had a little bit of everything on her desk, swiping food off of each other - he bought a couple of soda cans from the vending machines down the hall and she hardly noticed them teetering dangerously close to her keyboard.

“There’s a wine fair downtown,” he said, after she finished explaining what she was doing when he came in. Felicity didn’t think he’d grasped what a firewall was yet, but he was a trooper for trying.

“A wine fair?” Her ears perked up.

“At Starling City Park,” Oliver explained. He looked positively gargantuan in one of her measly desk chairs, but the expression painting his face was hopeful and achingly vulnerable. “I was wondering if you’d like to go with me.”

“Absolutely,” she said, sending to hell Anne’ old advice that she should play hard to get. She was giddy with the way he looked at her. “I do love a good wine.”

The door to the department swung open and the chatter of a few voices could be heard from her office.

“Lunch hour is over,” she said, clicking her tongue.

“So…tonight?” he asked. Like there was any way she could say no.

“Tonight,” she nodded. The chatter became louder and she started feeling nervous that her co-workers would find Oliver inside her office—like she was doing something wrong. He stood up and took care of the trash, while she tried to look at who’d arrived. Some of her colleagues could be downright vicious —and until now, she hadn’t fully realized how it would look for Oliver to be here, having lunch with her. What they could think.

“See you later, Felicity.” Oliver leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek, but she jumped, rolling her swivel chair until she knocked her stomach on her desk.

“Bye!” She exclaimed at Oliver, who looked a little bewildered. He left with a small smile and the increase of volume from the chatter outside let her know how much her co-workers had seen.

She trained her eyes firmly on her computer, trying to remember what it was she was doing, but not three minutes had gone by when someone knocked on her open door.

“Was that Oliver Queen in here?”

“Huh?” She looked up at the redheaded man in front of her. Samuel was his name, and gossip was his life.

“Oliver Queen. In this office.” She spoke slowly, as if Felicity was dumb. “Felicia-”

“It’s Felicity,” she corrected.

“Yes, Felicity.” Cynthia’s tone was sugary sweet, and God, Felicity was not a good liar. “So…what was Oliver Queen doing here?” She pointedly looked around her office, driving the question home. It made Felicity just the littlest bit self-conscious of the trinkets on top of her monitor, and the Star Wars picture on her cork-board.

“He’s a friend,” she said. And it was the truth. Or close to it. _A friend I’ve gone on two dates with and kinda want to kiss senseless._

“A friend, huh?” Cynthia smiled at Felicity. “Are you sleeping with him?”

Felicity choked.

 _“What_?”

“You’re among friends, spill.”

“I’m not sleeping with him, or anyone for that matter.” Her cheeks flamed, that was too much information. Cynthia looked around her office like she was hoping to find something to prove her wrong. What? Used condoms? _God._

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Cynthia said. “Where do you even know him from?”

“We met at the movie place,” Felicity said. She felt back in high school. “It was a coincidence.” 

“Really, now?” Cynthia said, and the way she eyed Felicity made her feel about two feet tall. “Are you sure he wasn’t just looking for some Tech support and found you? You’re like the only one who stays here during lunch.”

She didn’t have time to formulate a response before someone else stuck their head in her office.

“Did _Oliver Queen_ was here?” Samuel -Felicity thought that was his name- asked. _Why did people pronounce his name like that?_

“Yeah, he’s Felicia’s friend, apparently,” Cynthia answered.

“ _You_ are friends with Oliver Queen,” he asked, looking straight at Felicity. Disbelief was plainly written in his face.

“He’s—like— an acquaintance. If you don’t mind, I have work to finish,” she said, trying to smile, but she was never a very good actress either.

“Sure!” Samuel said cheerfully, and dragged Cynthia out of her office.

“Do you think she’s making that up?” He asked her, right outside.

“Probably,” Cynthia answered. “Or she’s smarter than I thought. ‘Not sleeping with him’ my ass.”

Felicity’s blood boiled, but damn it, she wasn’t crying over this. Cynthia and Samuel started walking back to their cubicles, but Felicity called out to her across the office.

“ _Cindy_ , I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you mind checking better the sites you visit? The porn you downloaded has been clogging up the servers.”

 

 

 

There were fire breathers at the fair.

Felicity stood next to him, hair up in its usual ponytail, and her eyes followed the flames from behind her glasses. She clapped, eyes wide, when they finished performing, and Oliver couldn’t stop looking at her. She’d been strangely quiet at first, but now she seemed fine. Felicity deposited a dollar on the man’s hat, and they walked to one of the stands they hadn’t tried yet.

In a move bold for him, he rested his hand on her lower back, and when she fell into step closer to him he felt it was okay.

His mother would have hated for this to be called a wine fair. The admittance was free, it was hosted in a public park, and street artists performed at every corner, hoping to make some money.

But the atmosphere was fun, and the wine stands were good -Felicity certainly seemed to like them.

“To be fair, I usually drink the discount stuff so-” She cringed. “Ugh, my mouth hates me.”

“To be honest, the expensive stuff is not all its cracked up to be,” he said, chuckling. He let the arm that rested on her waist gently squeeze her closer to him. She looked up at him, crinkling her nose in embarrassment. The wind blew her ponytail against her pink lips, and they were standing so close. Oliver licked his lips.

“I think I saw a cheese stand back there,” she said, and he nodded, heart beating fast. He offered her his arm, and she took it, a bashful smile on her lips.

 

There were a few tables near the back, and they sat down with a couple of pretzels and cheese.

“My friend Iris swears these soak up booze,” she said.

While they ate, Oliver told her how he’d gotten drunk and crashed his motorcycle on a tree on their property when he was seventeen, and then had tried to cover it with a leaf so his mother wouldn't find out. Her laughter was infectious. He’d been such an asshole back then, but Felicity only snickered at his antics, her clear blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

Oliver couldn't remember the last time he’d felt so at ease.

She told him how she got her ear pierced when she was 15, and actually got in trouble with her mother for the first time.

“She wasn't angry about the piercing itself, she was worried over where I’d gotten it and if the needles were sterile, and all of that. I’d never seen her like that. I’d always been pretty boring for a teenager, and at that point we were more like roommates since she was always working…My point is, she freaked out. And after all of that? She told me it looked hot.”

“She wasn’t wrong,” he said, and that was probably the worst line -Tommy would have smacked him upside the head- but it was also true. Felicity bit her lip when she looked at him. It was probably the wine, but he wanted to trail his fingers over the piercing in her ear.

“Your mother sounds like an interesting woman,” he said instead. “You said she raised you by herself?”

“You remember that?” she asked.

“Not every day you pour your heart out to the woman you met in blockbuster,” he explained. It was probably one of the best things he’d done lately.

“Yeah. But the reason why is my dad and he’s not worth talking about,” she took a pinch out of her pretzel. “How’s Addy?”

“Developing an obsession with the Backyardigans,” he said. “I want to gouge my eyes out sometimes.”

“I thought parents were supposed to like that stuff too.” Felicity said, smiling.

“I call bullshit.”

She laughed, and snorted, and that set Oliver laughing too.

They threw away their trash and walked to the other side of the park, away from the fair and the people. It felt colder, as the temperature had dropped with the sun.

“You must wonder,” he said, when they’d been walking in silence for a while. “How things ended up the way they did. About Addy’s mom.”

“I don’t,” she said simply.

“I know what the magazines say-”

“I don’t care,” Felicity said again. “You’re a good dad and a good person. I don’t care about the rest of it. And you don't have to tell me.”

“I want to,” he said, surprising himself. He’d never talked about it with anyone but Tommy. “I...found out she was pregnant right after dropping out of my 3rd college. My parents were already furious with me and then Sandra showed up at our house. My mother…she’s my mother.” He thought to the red-hot anger he’d felt when he found out what she tried to do. And the fear that he might have never gotten to know his child. “She did some things she’s not proud of, but at the end of the day we wanted that baby.” Felicity was listening intently to his words. “She moved in with me. We weren’t together but her parents were pissed and cut her off so she couldn't afford her dorms anymore. Those weren't the best circumstances but we did what we could.”

“And your parents helped,” Felicity said with confidence. But she was wrong.

“No..it’s a long story. But I didn't let my mom meet Addy until she was a month old. Even if she sort of picked her name. Adelaide. Mom said it had history and class.” Oliver rolled his eyes. “I thought it was a mouthful for a baby so I shortened it.”

“Addy.” Felicity smiled.

“Sandra left not long after that. She didn't sign away her rights or anything like that, but she moved to LA to start over, got back into college. She would visit every couple of weeks that first year, then every few months, but since then it’s a text message here and there. We haven't heard from her in nearly a year.”

He looked at Felicity, wondering if maybe he’d said too much, but she met his eyes with the same accepting expression he’d come to expect from her, the one that let him breathe easier.

“You're doing an amazing job with that little girl, Oliver,” she said, squeezing his arm.

The temperature dropped even further, and when Felicity shivered he’d offered to go back to the car, even if he didn’t want to cut their time together short.  
They passed through the stands when they went back, and the owners were closing in for the night. They must have walked for longer than he thought.

He’d picked her up earlier in the afternoon, arguing that his car was human sized, unlike hers, and now they were close to where he’d parked, but he didn’t want the night to end yet.

“Would you like to go back to my place, have some coffee?” he asked. “Maybe you can see Addy,” he added. It felt strange having a part of his life that his daughter wasn’t privy to. Addy didn’t really know Felicity, apart from one very-brief meeting, and he wanted to make that right.

“I’d love to,” she said, and he guided them to his car.

 

 

 

“I don’t usually bring girls to meet my daughter,” he said, as they went up to his floor on the elevator.

“No, I get it, going from girls to diapers must have been a big change- tell me that didn’t sound as bad as I think it did,” Felicity begged, closing her eyes. She needed a brain to mouth filter, badly.

“Its true,” he told her, and she gingerly looked at him. At least he didn’t seem mad. “But she’s worth it. And I didn’t mean to say ‘girls’ as in, I- sorry, this whole dating thing…I’m a little out of practice.”

“That was ‘out of practice’?” she asked, incredulous. He took her to a place where wine flowed like metaphorical bodies of water, it easily ranked among her best dates.

“I can do better,” he said, and-damn- smug and a little bashful looked good on him.

“I was about to say you’re...different. Besides, you’ve already met her and she’s asked about you.”

"Really?” Oliver spoke so much about his daughter she felt like she knew her already.

“I told her I was going out with the beautiful lady we met the other day,” he said. The thought of Oliver talking about her to Addy made something new and strange warm her chest.

“I hardly doubt she can remember my name, let alone pronounce it,” Felicity said.

“Well…She’s been calling you blockster lady. She’s not quite on ‘Blockbuster” yet, but we’re getting there.”

They walked out of the elevator, and he rang the doorbell of his apartment. Felicity briefly wondered if the entire floor belonged to him, she didn't see any other doors around. 

A blonde woman about her age opened the door.

“So _you’re_ Felicity,” the woman said, knowing smile on her pale lips. So…not a babysitter?

“This is Sara,” Oliver said. “She’s a-”

“Friend of the family, Sara Lance.” She offered her her hand and Felicity shook it, Sara was stronger than she expected.

“Felicity Smoak, MIT class of 09,” she recited.

“You’re cute,” Sara said, and Felicity kind of liked her.

“Where’s Addy?” Oliver asked, and Sara walked back inside. Oliver followed after her.

“We’re watching Animal Planet, actually,” she explained over her shoulder. “Ads! Your dad’s here!”

“Daddy!”

The little girl came running and jumped straight into Oliver’s arms, and it was a sight to behold. She excitedly babbled about monkeys to Oliver, until she noticed Felicity standing behind him. She instantly hid against her father’s chest.

“Addy, you remember Felicity,” Oliver said, and she smiled and half-waved to the toddler.

She shook her head, blonde hair flying everywhere.

“We met her a few weeks ago at the movie place, remember? Blockbuster?”

She shook her head again. Felicity felt awfully uncomfortable.

“She must be tired,” Oliver said, apologetic. “I’m going to put her down-”

“I’ve got it,” Sara said, taking the girl from his arms. “Want to say ‘bye’ to daddy’s friend?” Addy shyly waved from her place against Sara’s chest, and they both disappeared up a set of stairs.

“I feel like she doesn’t like me anymore,” Felicity said out loud. She was never a baby-sitter. And she’d never been specially fond of children, not even when she was a child herself.

“Don’t worry about it,” Oliver said, taking of his jacket. “About that coffee-”

“Yeah, coffee, okay.” She nodded, letting him take her jacket as well and draping them both by the door. “You know, this is probably the first time someone asks me to their place for coffee and actually means coffee. And I should process my words before letting them out of my mouth.”

“I like it,” he said chuckling, unbuttoning his sleeves and pushing them up his well defined forearms. Who knew forearms could be so hot.

“That’s” - _really attractive_ \- “good. That’s good,” she said. “You'll be getting a lot of it.” Sara chose that exact moment to come down the stairs.  
“And by ‘it’ I mean me babbling. Like I'm doing right now.” She wished she had a cup of coffee so she could drown in it.

“Kid’s all tucked in and tuckered out,” Sara told Oliver. She got a small bag from the couch and walked to the door.

“Thank you,” he told her.

"Don't mention it," Sara said. "Felicity."

“Good night, Sara. It was nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Sara winked at her before leaving.

Oliver closed the door after her, rolling his eyes. “So… _a lot of it_?”

“Stop it, “ she laughed.

  
Oliver made them both coffee, in one of those wonderful little machines she’d been meaning to save up for. The smell invaded her nostrils, as comforting as ever.  
It was surreal to be in Oliver’s apartment. She didn’t know what to expect, but although the place was huge, it didn’t look any different to a regular house—apart from the floor to ceiling windows. There were a dozen toys lying around in the living room area, and it was modestly decorated. It look like a home.

“Here.” Oliver deposited a steaming cup of coffee in front of her, and she turned around on her stool at the breakfast island.  
She wrapped her hands around the cup, inhaling the sweet scent.

“I had a really good time this afternoon Oliver.”

“So did I,” he said. He put his coffee down and walked around the island until he was right in front of her. “I’m going to use the excuse that I haven’t been dating for a while to pretend its appropriate to ask you out again right now.”

She swallowed, nerves making their appearance in the best way possible.

“It’s very appropriate,” she said.

“Would you go out with me again? Sunday?” He asked.

"That’s three days from now,” she said, putting her coffee down.

“I can’t get enough of you, Felicity,” he said, so honest it stopped her breathing. She steeled herself, dared herself to be a little braver. Do what she’d been aching to all night.

“Maybe you can get a little bit more tonight,” she said. She leaned forward, his lips a hair’s breadth away. His warm breath bounced off her lips as she closed her eyes-

“Daddy!”

Their eyes popped open.

“Daddy!”

He chuckled, and she blushed to the roots of her hair.

“I’ll see you on Sunday?” he asked, still staring at her lips

“Sunday,” she repeated, getting down from her stool. He looked toward the stairs and back at her -as if he was fighting with himself.

Felicity rose on her tiptoes and kissed him.

It was a small, tentative kiss. Just a brush of lips against each other. His were so warm and so much softer than she expected. His lips capturing her bottom one between them sent a current running through her body. It was with great pain that Felicity pulled away. He looked dazed, and she certainly felt it.

“Go check on your daughter, I’ll call a cab.”

 

 

 

As he walked up the stairs, he still thrummed with electricity from Felicity. His hand still ached to feel her skin and he still breathed in the smell of her-but it haD to stop. There were more important things.

“Hey,” he said quietly once he entered Addy's room, to the half-asleep little girl. “Everything okay?”

She shook her head, refusing to speak in the way that told Oliver she was either too tired and grumpy as a result -or mad at him.  
He sits down on her small bed, the wood groaning beneath his weight.

“Did you forget Felicity?” he asked gently, and Addy pulled her blanket over head, hiding under the covers.

“Come here,” he said, but she curled up in a ball and refused.

He started to worry. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought Felicity over, if that’s what had Addy like this.

If she was upset—that was his fault. He’d spent more time out of the apartment in the past two weeks that he had in the previous six months. It was messing with her routine.

“Where’s Addy?” He asked. He stood up and opened the closet doors, trying to appeal to her love for hide-and-seek. Behind him, a little head popped out from underneath the blanket, hair everywhere, and ducked back inside before he turned around. He looked under the bed, and then patted the mattress everywhere but the lump in the middle of it. “Oh, no. Where is she?”

A giggle was muffled by the blankets.

“Here she is!” he exclaimed, grabbing her along with the blankets, and she screamed. He dropped the bundle on the bed and picked her from between all the sheets. She laughed when he threw her and caught her.

He dropped a kiss to her cheek before sitting back down on the bed, settling her in his lap.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked, brushing her hair away from her face.

“I don’t like you going, daddy,” she said. “Don’t go.” Her eyebrows were twisted in distress and Oliver felt a pang of guilt in his chest for being the reason why.

He brushed a kiss on her forehead before tucking her underneath his chin.

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? :) This one's headed to fluff town (mostly).


	5. Chapter 5

 The wine slipped lazily down her throat, sharp and heady and exactly what she needed.

“And honestly, would it be that much of a stretch that I'd be friends with Oliver?”

Anne and Iris had told her to let it all out, and it was exactly what she was doing. She laid on her bed, carton of wine balanced against her thigh, her phone on speaker and her best friends on the line -if not as buzzed as she was, getting there.

“I thought you didn't want anyone to know about you guys,” Iris pointed out.

“I don’t,” Felicity said. “But …look, I know I’m not gly but I'm not a model either. I'm like a six, right? Seven in a good day, and Oliver is a solid 10-”

Iris clicked her tongue disapprovingly, but she didn’t interrupt her.

“And his family is rich and famous to booth,” Felicity continued. “But…it isn't that outlandish that he’d be interested in me, right? Or not even interested, that we’d be friends, even. Samuel looked at me like I was telling him I still believe in Santa.”

“Samuel’s husband is divorcing him so he lives vicariously through other people to escape his terrible home life,” Anne said, and if she hadn’t slurred the word ‘terrible’, Felicity would have had no idea she was ‘sympathy drinking’ as she called it.

“I still cant believe I recommended him to you,” she said. _Way to thank me, Samuel._

“Thank you, by the way,” Anne said. “He paid for…. _at least_ fifteen percent of my new car.”

“Are you supposed to speak about clients? “ Iris asked.

“I’m a lawyer, not a doctor.” Anne rebuffed.

Felicity chuckled, before sinking back into her ocean of self-deprecation. “And Cynthia-”

“And Cynthia is an asshole, Felicity,” Iris said. “You’re beautiful, and smart and scary with a computer. Of course he’d be interest in you.” Iris was on a roll. “Your co-workers are bored and nasty and none of what they say affects what you and Oliver have going on.”

Felicity felt marginally better.

“But you have to know, they _are_ going to find out eventually,” Anne said.

Never mind.

“Bridges, crossing when I get there,” Felicity said. She did not want to think of all the comments she’d get, there was not enough alcohol this side of Starling to get her through that train of thought. “God knows how its going to look. How its already looking like, actually. And I’m not even sleeping with him! Not that it would be okay if they thought I was while I was actually doing it… I mean, they should mind their own business, but - _I'm not even sleeping with him._ ”

“Why is that, by the way?” Anne asked.

“Anne,” Iris chastised.

“I’m just saying, it’s been three dates. Four if you count-”

“I don’t,” Felicity said, thinking of the lunch she’d told them about. It hadn’t been the first time. After the wine fair, they’d met up twice at Big Belly during lunch hour. She learned her lesson about QC. “And our first date sucked, remember?” she told Anne.

“Irrelevant,” Anne said. “Three dates with Ollie Queen and you haven't even _properly_ kissed? I raised you to be better than this.”

“Don’t listen to her, F,” Iris said. “She’s bored and probably horny.”

“That’s…not a lie,” Anne said. Felicity heard the slosh of booze hitting her glass in the background.

“I think it’s good,” Iris said. “You and Oliver are getting to know each other first.”

“Yeah, that’s nice. But Felicity should be getting to know his tongue. There are legends about this man, Felicity! A peck on the lips-”

“Enough!” Felicity exclaimed. “I don’t see him like that, Anne. You think he’s this person… that he really isn't. Maybe he used to be, but not any more.” Maybe it was the wine making her short-fused, but like hell she was going to let anyone -even her own friend- write Oliver off as the playboy he once was. He was so much more than that.

“Do what feels right for you, Felicity,” Iris said, definitely the more sober of the three. “And you know we’ll be here to support you. Right Anne?”

“Yes,” Anne answered. “Sorry, babe.”

“He’s just…he’s sweet. And he listens when I talk no matter how much he doesn't understand, and he’s such a good dad, and smart and funny…And when I kissed him-”

“You sound like an eight grader,” Anne said, but there was no bite in her tone. Felicity was perfectly aware she mas making a big deal of their kiss but she was also not stopping any time soon. She couldn’t remember when was the last time she was this excited about someone. The newness of their dates hadn’t worn off yet, and Felicity basked in it. All too often her life became all about work and the next big gadget in the market, and this was a different kind of thrill she had sorely wanted.

“Wait, what the hell where you doing on eighth grade, Anne?” Felicity asked, but she just laughed.

“My first kiss? Seventh grade,” Iris said.

“What?” Felicity exclaimed.

“Come on, what was thirteen year old Felicity doing?” Iris asked.

“Starting High School?” Felicity said tentatively, and it unleashed a bout of laughter from her friends. Her lack of a love life as a tween wasn’t that funny, but they were all just a smidgen past buzzed and it felt good to let go, to laugh until her stomach hurt.

“So…Oliver Queen is pretty damn close to perfect.” Anne souded just a little jealous, and Felicity kind of liked it. Out of the three of them she was the most outgoing, the one who had the most stories about hot guys (and girls), not to mention how badass she was as a lawyer...And Iris met so many people in her line of work -they always had the stories. Sometimes Felicity felt as though she was doing nothing with her life, locked up in the IT department. This was new and exciting for her, and she was enjoying it very much.

Although Oliver wasn't perfect. But for Felicity…that was kind of the point. He wasn’t the perfectly sophisticated, smooth Casanova that her co-workers made him out to be. Or the playboy that the press presented him as. He texted her photos of his messy apartment and gasped when she kissed him for the first time. Oliver was…Oliver.

“I think his kid hates me,” Felicity said. Because Addy’s reaction to her stuck out like a sore thumb in her story. Her booze adled brain couldn't come up with _why_.

“How come?” Iris asked her.

“She didn’t even want to say hi to me, and I get it, I’m a perfect stranger, but she called me pretty the first time we met so I guess I thought we could be buddies? And I mean, it’s probably my fault. The closest thing I’ve had to children in my life is the two of you drunk.”

“I’d resent that if it wasn’t true,” Iris said.

“I’ll drink to that,” Anne told them.

“Look…it’s just a person, Felicity,” Iris said. “Think of it that way. A young person.”

“Yeah, you've talked to people in your life, Felicity,” Anne helpfully added.

“Grown people,” Felicity said. “How do you speak to a toddler?”

“Baby talk actually sets children back in language development,” Iris said. “I did a story on that last week.”

“…Not helping,” Felicity said.

“I thought you were drunk too, West,” Anne slurred. “I feel left out.”

“Just be yourself,” Iris said. “You’ll win her over in no time.”

“Yeah,” Anne said, sounding far too close to the phone. “Look, we know one Queen has a weakness for you, maybe it runs in the family.”

 

 

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Oliver asked, after about ten minutes of his mother eyeing him carefully. He’d become accustomed to it, after twenty five years of being Moira Queen’s firstborn, but it didn’t mean that it no longer bothered him.

“You seem…different,” his mother said. Moira Queen was nothing if not perceptive, but Oliver didn’t believe she could read the reason why he was much happier these days on his head.

“Different how?” he asked. He looked over at Addy where she colored in the floor of his office. His daughter could not keep a secret to save her life, and Oliver wanted to enjoy what he was starting with Felicity for just a while longer before his mother invariably meddled. 

Addy seemed to be entertaining herself with markers and a contract he would have to request another copy off, so everything was well.

“Just different,” his mother shrugged. “Is there something…?”

“Nothing’s going on, mom,” he said, perhaps too fast. And added the one topic that always got his mother off his case. “Addy’s past her hating vegetables phase," he said. "So you can tell Raisa to serve all the broccoli she wants at dinner this weekend.”

“I see.” His mother smiled. The same look she got every time her granddaughter was around painted her face.

“Grandma, look!” Addy ran from her spot in the floor, waving a piece of paper at her. If his mother noticed what exactly she had been drawing on, she did not comment on it.

“That’s lovely, my dear.” She picked Addy up, crinkling the expensive suit she wore. Oliver was pretty sure Addy’s sparkly blue sneakers left foot prints on her pants, but his mother didn’t seem to care.

The resentment didn't gnaw at him anymore, not like it used to. He’d kept his daughter from her grandmother for a whole month after she was born, because the mere thought that she’d get to enjoy this tiny, beautiful person, when she meant to make her disappear from their lives in the first place…It made him see red.

She’d apologized, of course, said she had his best interests at heart. She said he wasn’t ready to be a father, that he’d told her so himself. That he had no idea how his life would change. And maybe she had been right, God knows he struggled that first year. The change to his lifestyle was jarring -he’d never been so afraid and frustrated and tired, and Sandra choosing to move out and then leave had been even harder.

But Oliver can’t imagine what would have happened if Sandra had taken the money and ran instead of telling him about it. Sandra had left, yes, but she had left Addy with him, and that was everything.

He understood soon enough that he couldn’t do it alone, and that Addy needed her grandparents, so he approached his mother after months of not talking to her and let her be a part of his daughter's life. He still couldn’t help but wonder, though, what kind of person would he be had he never known he had a child? Oliver didn’t like thinking about it.

“And what is that?” His mother asked, pointing to the scribbles in the page.

“A puppy,” Addy answered. She ate up the attention everyone lavished her with, and her cheeky smiles were never hard to come by. Oliver couldn’t fathom his life without her in it. It was Friday, so he decided to take her to the office with him, like he sometimes did. She had fun at daycare, but she always chose to spend the day with him when he offered. These days the company had been eating more and more of his time, so he offered very often.

"Do you have everything set up for Russia?” His mother asked suddenly.

“What? Is that supposed to be-”

“Next week, yes,” his mother filled in for him. The expression that came over her face was a familiar one. Just the right touch of disappointment. “You said you’d accompany your father months ago, Oliver.”

“I know,” he said, fixing the papers in his desk for something to do. He remembered that particular conversation. Addy had been grumpy all day and, according to his mother, he'd been rude to the woman she'd arranged for him to have dinner with the day before, and he would've said anything to be able to go home and get them off his back.

“Did you forget?” His mother asked, in that way where she knew the answer but still wanted him to confess to yet another screw-up.

“No.” _Yes._

“Oliver,” she said carefully.

“Maybe I can talk to dad-”

“You more than anyone should understand you can’t shirk your responsibilities,” she said, putting Addy down.

“Don’t start with that, mom.”

“I’m not starting anything,” she said. “But your father and I expect the minimum of you. Your hours are shorter because of Addy, you don’t attend most of the company’s functions -and that’s all right with us.” Her voice was perfectly calm, as always; he'd heard this speech too many times. She walked around his desk, and Oliver couldn’t help but feel fourteen years old again. “So when you promise something, like accompanying your father to close this deal, we expect…a _modicum_ of responsibility. We’re letting you raise a child because-”

“You're not ‘letting me’ raise her, I’m not a teenager.” He looked toward Addy, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. “I’m raising her, period. She’s _my_ daughter.”

“That was bad wording,” his mother accepted, and her face lost all tension with practiced ease. She walked closer to him and touched his cheek. “Oliver, this company will belong to you one day. People need to trust you when your father steps down. So-”

“Russia. I know.”

His secretary stuck her head inside the door.

“Mrs.Queen?”

“I’ll be out in a second, Martha.” His mother turned to look at him. “I only want what’s best for you,” she said.

She pressed a quick kiss on his cheek, and then knelt down to Addy’s height.

“I’ll see you later, my darling.”

His mother disappeared through the door with one last look at him, and Oliver knew there was no way he was getting out of the trip. A week abroad, or however long his father decided he needed him... Oliver sighed. There was one very blonde reason why he didn’t feel particularly inclined to leave the country. Couldn’t things go his way, for once?

His conversation with his mother had left him reeling, the usual when it came to work these days. His father limited himself to disapproving looks or approving claps on the back, but his mother had no such reservations.

It was probably a terrible idea but Oliver didn’t want to wait until Sunday to see Felicity again.

 

 

Walking out of the IT department that Friday felt like throwing a weight off of her shoulders. Unfortunately, not a lot had happened over the past couple of days in their floor -not that it usually did- so the gossip of Oliver Queen inside Felicity Smoak’s office doing God knows what during lunch break had spread like wildfire.

And Felicity couldn’t carry herself properly when people were speaking about her behind her back. She had very little upper body strength.

So it was great to be able to go home and open a carton of wine -she really needed to save up for bottles of the real stuff- relax, hope against hope that something interesting happened during the weekend for her co-workers to talk about, and look forward to her date with Oliver.

She was thinking about how they’d be no interruptions this Sunday when the object of her thoughts walked toward her in the middle of the lobby. Oliver wore a suit, really, really well. She couldn’t help the smile that took over her face. It faded a little when she saw the little girl in tow behind him, though, as nervousness flooded her.

She was going to follow Iris’ advice. Addy was just a person. A very, very tiny person. _Felicity was terrible with people._

“Hi!” Was her voice really that high? “Hi, Oliver.” She looked down. “Addy.” She hid behind her father’s leg. Felicity deflated. She was so close to asking the little girl to _just please like her_.

“I was just leaving,” she told Oliver.

“So were we,” he said. “Come here.” He picked Addy up, and she immediately attached herself to his neck. “It was 'bring your child to work' day. At least in my office.” Addy was very pointedly ignoring their conversation. “May we walk you to your car?”

“Sure,” Felicity said.

Maybe she was a little paranoid, but she half expected someone to start pointing at her as she and Oliver walked by. But no one did, and when they got on the elevator to the parking lot, she begun to relax.

“How was your day?” Oliver asked. The question brought a smile to her face.

”Same old, same old. I updated a few programs and then had the joy of catching one of my coworkers watching porn-Oh my god, I'm so sorry.” She looked at Oliver, eyes wide. She waved her hand at Addy, whose head rested on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, she doesn't know what that means.”

_Way to go, Felicity._

“I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Relax, it’s nothing.” He touched her shoulder gently. It looked as though he was repressing a laugh. “I still curse in front of her by accident.”

She let out a nervous laugh.

“I mean, I hoped I’d be in Applied Sciences by now and not in IT cleaning up viruses, you know?” she told him. “I'm more than qualified- not that I'm bragging, but I am.”

“I know you are,” Oliver said. His brow tightened. “Do you want me to speak to-”

“No!” Felicity didn’t even realize the elevator had stopped. “No. Nope. No, Oliver, I'm not telling you this so you can help me or anything, that’s not-”

“Oh. I know, I just-”

“No work talk between us,” she said. For a moment she forgot her supervisor answered to a man who answered to Oliver. She walked out of the elevator and he followed her. Felicity remembered the gossip in her department. She didn’t need any of it.

“Actually…that’s something that I wanted to talk to you about,” she told Oliver. “Some of my co-workers-”

“What’s that?” A little voice asked. Addy’s green eyes were trained on Felicity’s purse.

“Huh?” Surprised colored Felicity's face. Addy was actually talking to her.

“What’s that?” Addy strained herself reaching towards her purse, hanging from Oliver’s shoulder.

“Addy-” He tried to hold her back.

“No, it’s okay.” Her purse was huge and hanging off her shoulder, she couldn’t blame the little girl for taking a look inside. They stopped walking for a second as she went through it.

“That,” Addy repeated, pointing.

Felicity fished it out of her bag. “This? It’s a Rubik’s cube,” she explained. “Do you want it?”

Addy nodded shyly. Felicity passed it and resisted the urge to do something dumb like coo when her hands were too small to properly hold on to it.

“It’s a game,” Felicity said.

“What game?” Addy asked, twisting one of the sides back and forth. Felicity had her interest. She could feel Oliver’s eyes watching them but all her attention belonged to the little girl waiting for her answer.

“You put all the same colored squares together,” she said. “Do you know the colors’ names?”

“Of course, I’m not a baby.” She pointed at the different squares. “Red, blue…green.” Her forehead twisted in a small frown when she got to one she couldn't name.

“That’s yellow,” Felicity said, helping her.

“I know,” Addy answered.

“Of course,” Felicity said, smiling. “I can teach you if you want.” Addy perked up at that. “You know, I learned when I was about your age.”

Addy nodded, too immersed in twisting the cube this way and that to keep paying attention to her, but it was okay. Felicity felt like she’d won something.

“You were solving Rubik’s cube when you were three?” Oliver asked, and he, too, was smiling.

“It’s not very hard.”

“Oh, of course,” Oliver said, chuckling. They walked through the cold parking lot, a few other people getting into their cars. Felicity didn’t feel nervous anymore, walking next to Oliver and Addy had obliterated that. She simply led the way.

“What were you going to tell me?” Oliver asked suddenly.

Felicity shook her head. She wasn’t about to ruin their afternoon with what a few nosy people had to say.

“It can wait. This is my stop.” They stood in front of her beloved Mini Cooper.

“Addy.” He bounced her a little. “Time to give that back.”

“No, it’s okay,” Felicity said right away. “She can keep it,” she told Oliver. “You can keep it,” she said to Addy, who smiled at her, clutching the cube.

“What do we say?” Oliver asked. “Thank you Felicity,” he whispered in Addy’s ear.

“Thank you, Flissty,” Addy said.

“Felicity,” Oliver corrected, a chuckle leaving his lips.

“Fli…City,” Addy repeated slowly, and Felicity’s heart melted, right then and there. It hit the floor in a puddle.

“I’ll take that,” Felicity said. Her smile made her cheeks ache.

“Thank you for the toy,” Oliver told her. “I’ll see you on Sunday?”

She nodded. He leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek, and the moment -despite of how short it was- made butterflies fight each other in her stomach. Regardless of how the day had started, it was ending well.

Addy waved goodbye to her over her father’s shoulder as Oliver walked away, and Felicity waved right back.

The day was ending perfectly -but it felt more like a start.

 

 

Addy laid down the multicolored cube on the top of her tower. Wooden blocks were scattered over the living room floor, and his coffee table was the construction site for her newest architecture-featuring Felicity’s Rubik’s cube.

“That was very nice of Felicity,” he said. He’d never thought to buy her one, though she was obviously not using it for its intended purpose.

“Flissty.” Addy giggled. “Her name is funny.”

“It is,” he agreed, repressing a smile. Her name was absolutely beautiful -and quite fitting, Oliver found. “She’s my friend, you know?” He hadn’t really sat down and talked to Addy about Felicity before bringing her over, too caught up in the newness of it. He really couldn’t blame Addy for being so withdrawn when she saw Felicity again.

“Like Uncle Tommy?” Addy asked.

“Yes. Well, not exactly.” He stumbled over his words, and Addy stopped playing with the blocks, looking up at him instead. “She’s a girl, for starters, and my friend. Kind of like Sara.” He was too close to calling Felicity his girlfriend, a conversation he was nowhere near ready to have with Addy -and hadn’t even had with Felicity herself. But ‘like Sara’? That’s the worst comparison he could have come up with.

But he couldn’t have Addy thinking that Felicity was like his sister, that would make it even more confusing.

“Is she Aunt Flicity now?” Addy asked, her brow twisted in confusion.

He sighed. “No, she’s not.” Oliver didn't have a lot of friends outside of his family circle, maybe that’s why Addy was so reticent around Felicity at first, and why she was confused now. Even Laurel -among all the complications and drama - started hanging out with Addy when she was a baby.

Tommy had always been there and so had Sara. Apart from the people at daycare, Addy had been quite sheltered. It came with the territory of being a Queen. And Oliver had never been comfortable introducing any of his dates to her, until now.

“But you say Flicity is like Aunt Sara. And you kiss her. And you say we kiss family, not meanies. You say that, daddy.”

The ‘meanies’ were the women they encountered a few times at QC or during family auctions. Almost everyone fawned over Addy and pinched her cheeks or asked for kisses, and she’d always hated it. He’d read enough forums when Sandra was pregnant to know he should teach his child about consent, and so he’d never told Addy to comply. Rather, he’d whisked her away from the overwhelming nature of it all. And so, the ‘we kiss family, not meanies’ phrase had been born.

Addy climbed on the couch next to him. His first thought was that she might be jealous, but one look at her face told him she was confused.

He needed more casual friends. Friends his daughter didn’t call aunts or uncles.  
  
Addy didn’t like not understanding things. When she was two, she’d gone through a few weeks of throwing a tantrums every time a puzzle piece didn’t fit, or the colors while she finger-painted didn't come out how she wanted.

“She’s not like Aunt Sara,” he said. Sara insisted on being called just her name, but she’d received the honorary tittle from Addy herself, so she didn’t mind too much these days. Maybe he should have mentioned Laurel. Addy knew Laurel, Tommy and them had dinner sometimes, and she didn’t call her ‘Aunt’. But comparing Felicity to Laurel made him cringe.

Maybe it had been too soon to bring Felicity around. He’d been blinded by excitement and wanting to share it with his daughter and he’d forgotten that Addy came first. She always had. Things were going great, but it was too early. What if it didn't work out? What was he going to tell Addy?

“She’s just a friend,” he said. It was far too soon to explain her presence in his life as anything else. He thought for a second. “Like Sara is your friend at daycare, you see?”

“They have the same name so they have to share,” Addy said. “I’m happy I don’t have to share. I like sharing but not my name.” He knew when a conversation topic was tiring her. Still, he gave it one last try.

“Come here,” he asked, and she stood up on the couch, walking over his thighs until she plopped down on his lap. Her little feet were so sharp.

“Felicity is a good friend, and I like her very much. And I think you…” He tickled her stomach with his finger, eliciting a giggle. “Might like her too.”

“She gave me the Ruby. I like it,” Addy said, and then turned serious. “But you go all the times forever,” she complained. “And -and Uncle Tommy comes, and Aunt Thea comes, but you go.”

“But I always come back,” he told her. “You know that, don’t you?”

She shook her head.

“No more going, daddy.”

“How about I promise I wont go out as often?” He tried to negotiate. He wasn’t lying, not really. They’d be spending a week abroad and he would be with her nearly all of the time. And then hopefully when they came back she’d start to get used to him not being around once a week. God, he was an asshole.

Addy sat up, seemingly satisfied for the time being, and patted his cheeks.

“Flicity makes you smile.”

 

 

Oliver’s fingers were warm against her own.

They’d had lunch at a tiny café overlooking the Starling City Bay, and now they walked hand in hand down the busy street. Felicity had always worried about holding hands with people. Her one short lived relationship in high-school had been spent worrying about sweaty hands or how appropriate it was in the moment. But with Oliver -most like anything else, it felt natural.

She looked up at him. He’d been quiet ever since they left they café, and now a small frown took over his brow.

“Hey,” she said quietly, giving his arm a little shake.

“Yes?” He asked, smiling briefly at their interlocked hands.

“Are you okay?” Felicity asked. “You seem kind of...out of it."

“There’s just a lot in my head right now,” he said.

“Is it about Addy? Is she okay?” Oliver had told her all about Addy loving her new toy, which she had taken to calling ‘Ruby Cube’, and it had made Felicity melt even more. They would be the death of her.

“Yeah, it’s just… I worry, you know.” He shrugged. “I guess I spend a lot of time wondering if I'm a good enough dad.”

His daughter was the most important thing in Oliver’s life, why would he doubt himself? Felicity thought of her mother, who -God help her- had done everything she could. Maybe it was just something parents did.

“You are,” she said, squeezing his wrist with her free hand. “Just the fact that you wonder about it proves how much.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with Addy, but I can see she looks at you like you hung the sky,” Felicity said. Then thought for a minute, letting her words fall into place in her head. “You worry about being good enough for her. I think that’s what matters the most. That you _want_ to be there for her. That you choose to try and be a good dad instead of running for the hills.”

Oliver looked at her with questions in his eyes. She didn’t mean the resentment that seeped into her words at the end, but he caught on to it. She looked up at him -she didn’t have to share anything if she didn’t want to, but for the first time in forever she felt like she could trust parts of herself to someone, even the parts that hurt.

“My dad...he left me and my mom when I was 7.” She shrugged. “He decided he didn’t want a family dragging him down anymore and he left, I haven’t seen him since.”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said, squeezing her hand.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t really bother me anymore.” She’d never forgiven her dad for leaving, but she had never tried to find him either. “My mom and I managed, and I think I came out fine.” She offered Oliver a bright smile.

“So much more than fine,” he said.

She let her shoulder bump his. “Don’t doubt yourself, you are an amazing dad.”

He stopped walking. “You're remarkable, Felicity,” he said.

“Thank you for remarking on it.”

His eyes dropped to her lips, and Felicity’s stomach did back flips. His hands cupped her face. Warmth enveloped her when he pressed his lips against hers, wet and gentle. They slowly explored, and when he sucked her lower lip she damn near whimpered.

She opened her mouth underneath him and he slipped his tongue inside, he moved with bold slow strokes against her own. Felicity slipped her hand against the nape of his neck. When he nipped at her lip she pulled away.

“Wait,” she was breathless in the best way possible. “I don’t want Addy to see her dad on the news for indecent exposure.”

“Been there, done that. It’s not all its cracked up to be.”

 

 

“I actually wanted to tell you something,” he said. The sun hung low in the sky, and it was actually surprising he hadn't remembered about Russia until now. Time with Felicity flew by, it was too easy to forget everything else.

“Yeah?” Felicity asked. Her cheeks were red, and so were her lips. The pressure of them still lingered on his lips, and it made Oliver want to forget all about indecency in public.

“I’m leaving for a business trip next week,” he said. “Russia.”

“Oh, wow. Wait, who’s staying with Addy?” The fact that was her first question made him like her even more.

“I’m taking her with me, I always do,” he said. They’d only left the country twice since she was born, and both times had been an exercise in patience. But at the end of the day, he’d never choose to spend so much time away from his daughter. “My father doesn't make me travel as much since she was born but I can’t blow it."

She nodded as they walked along. “For how long?” Felicity asked.

“A week and a half. Maybe more.” As long as his father wanted was a more accurate answer.

“Have fun?” 

“I doubt so,” he said. “I’ll miss you too much.” He was such a cheesy bastard -but he meant it.

“That was quite a line, Mr. Queen,” Felicity said.

“Did it work?”

She nodded.

The part of the street they’d wandered off to was near deserted, so he swooped down and captured her lips in his own again. He would never get tired of the exhilaration he felt from it alone.

She smiled into the kiss.

“Let me take you out,” she said, pulling away. “Before you leave. Both of you.”

“I think —I think it would be best if it’s just the two of us, for now,” he said. Addy was finally starting to feel comfortable around Felicity, but he needed to take things slow with both of them. He couldn’t risk his daughter getting hurt.

“Oh, okay. I understand. So-”

“I’d love it if you took me out,” he said. This was how it was meant to be -not uptight dinners at The Red Door, but the woman he liked taking him out for a date. "But I have one condition. That you let me drive. I don't think I could fit in your car even if I wanted to.”

She looked at him, mockingly crossed.

“We can talk about Tardis later. When do you leave?” she asked.

“Is your car named...?" He bit his lip. "Flight leaves on Saturday."

“Day before that, then,” Felicity offered.

“You’ve got yourself a deal Ms. Smoak.”

“Wanna shake on it?” she asked, smiling.

“No.” He took her face in his hands. He had a much better idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felicity is such a dork. Oliver is such a dork. 3 year old Addy is the only one with some semblance of chill. I love it. I hope you do too.


	6. Chapter 6

“There you go.”

Addy covered the piece of fish with bread crumbs, a minimum flying into the breakfast island.  Dusty bits clung to her hands and shirt, but she had been excited to help him make lunch.

He hadn’t spent an entire day with just Thea and Addy in a while. Work had piled up and more often than not his lunch hours were spent with Felicity. He felt a little guilty about it. So now he was in the middle of cooking lunch for them. He loved Raisa.

Addy had requested fish sticks and he wasn’t one to deny her. It was the same recipe Raisa had made for him and Thea for years, with pumpkin seeds in the crust. Raisa taught him to make it a few months ago. She had actually taught him most of what he knew, and the other part came from online recipes and the cooking channel. 

Oliver couldn’t have foreseen how much he would enjoy cooking. He pretty much _had_ to learn when he moved out and realized takeout wasn’t the most healthy of foods for a pregnant woman. And then when Sandra left, he was faced with introducing solids to a four month old on his own. He’d learned to cook out of necessity. He was too proud to accept his mother’s help, specially after she claimed he didn’t know how to live on his own without paying a cook and a maid. Now…he genuinely liked it. It was relaxing.

He dipped the cod fillet into the flour, then the bowl with eggs, and dropped it on Addy’s breadcrumb station.

She sneezed.

“Bless you,” he said, and then noticed the breadcrumbs on her lower face. “Where you picking your nose?” he asked.

Addy shook her head no.

“You sure about that?” 

She shook her head again, but the following sneeze gave her away. He repressed a smile at the way her nose crinkled, covered in crumbs. 

“Come here,” he said. He picked her from the breakfast stool and set her on the floor. “Go wash your hands and then you can help me set the table, okay?”

 

Thea stared at him over the rim of her cup. 

“You are…smiling too much.” She took a drink of her coffee, her eyes narrowed. 

First his mother, and now his sister? Oliver couldn’t believe he was acting differently enough for them to realize something was up, much less figure out the reason why.

“What’s her name?” Thea asked, a knowing smile on her face. He should have known not to underestimate the Queen women.

“Calm down, Thea.” 

“Feli…city,” Addy said, and Oliver’s heart stopped. He definitely shouldn’t have underestimated the Queen women. He'd wanted more time...but that wasn't happening now. 

He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Thank you, Addy.”

She gave him a cheeky smile. Did his three year old just put him on the spot?  

“So…who’s this Felicity I’m hearing about?”  Thea asked, the corners of her mouth quirked up in a smirk. 

“Uh…” This was great. Exactly what he wanted. “A…friend.” Thea raised an eyebrow at him. Addy looked between the two of them, ketchup smeared on her chin.

He sighed again. It was becoming the sort of day for it.

“Fine,” he said.  “She works at QC, she’s beautiful, smart, Addy likes her, I like her, and we’ve gone on two dates this week.” He said it in a a single breath, the words flowing much more easily than he coud have hoped.

“That’s more like it,” Addy said. Thea laughed out loud.

“What kind of TV shows has Tommy been letting you watch?” he asked Addy.  Oliver wondered -not for the first time- just how much she understood about his relationship with Felicity. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how grown up she sounded. The proof she was her own person never failed to amaze him. 

Addy ignored him, and Thea laughed again. 

“What do you think of Felicity, Ade?” Thea asked, and Oliver held his breath. He assumed her initial coldness had been a normal reaction to meeting someone new, and he’d tried to rectify his mistake.  She’d seemed all right with Felicity the other day at QC.

“Flicity’s hair is pretty.” Addy said, straightforward, and Oliver smiled. “She gave me a ruby cube,” she told Thea. “You wanna see?”

“After lunch,” he said. “Drink your juice.” 

He wiped Addy’s chin with a napkin, all the while feeling his sister’s eyes on him. 

“Two dates in one week?” Thea asked, lifting her eyebrows. 

“Last week it was-”

“You’ve been seeing someone for two whole weeks and you didn't think to tell me about it?!”

It had been actually three weeks, if he counted the date at The Red Door, and he felt a little guilty about it. He didn’t usually keep things from Thea, but this was the first thing that felt just _his_ in a long time. Not to mention, once Thea knew, their mother was sure to follow, even if Thea was a better liar than he.

“Its not a big deal.” 

“Beg to differ!” Thea exclaimed. “Last time you dated someone for this long was…ages ago. It was Bubbles! Jesus, Ollie.”

“Barbara.” He corrected. He scratched his stubble, hoping to hide his smirk.

“Bubbles,” Thea said, unashamed. “Addy, do you remember the Powerpuff girls?”

His daughter nodded, a fish stick in each fist.

“They fight the bad guys,” she said, knocking the two pieces together before taking a bite out of one. He smiled. 

“Mom would flip if she was here,” Thea said. Oliver was inclined to agree. Thea and he had learned etiquette as soon as they could walk, but he was in no hurry to teach Addy. She could use a spoon and a fork well enough, Oliver thought, no need to get her started on Continental Style dining just yet.

“So Bubbles-”

“Thea…”

“You've got to admit the resemblance was eerie, Ollie.”

Oliver remembered the woman. Blonde, a much lighter blond than Felicity, and taller too. Utterly nice and perfectly boring. He’d dated her for a month, gone on exactly four dates with her in that time. She was nice, he supposed, but she had been too much like his mother -fitting, since his mother set them up.

 Barbara -dubbed Bubbles by a thirteen year old Thea - had been intelligent, but calculating. Her seemingly permanent cheerfulness wasn’t genuine.  Oliver wasn’t sure if the woman had ever said a word to him without thinking about it first. She was nothing like Felicity. 

And when had he started comparing the women he’d been with to Felicity? He guessed it was the only way he had to measure where they fell short. They weren’t _her_. 

“—To this day I'm sure mom was paying her,” Thea commented.

“Thanks.” He wasn’t that bad, was he?

“Come on, I meant-”

“I can admit I’ve had a bad streak, okay?” It was more than a bad streak, if he was honest. He hadn’t had one serious relationship he hadn’t screwed up in his entire life. 

“Maybe this Felicity girl will change that.” Thea smiled knowingly at him. What Oliver didn’t tell her is she already had.

“And on that note,  would you like babysitting duty tonight? Sara is off to Central to visit her mom. And I can see the _light_ leave Tommy’s eyes when he has to stay in on a Friday night.”

“Sure. I’ll just tell mom I’m sleeping over here, too." Thea shrugged. "What time are you coming back tonight? _Are_ you coming back tonight?”

“Speedy!”

“What? I’m fifteen!”

“Exactly.”

“Whatever.” Thea rolled her eyes. “Let me call mom. Speaking of…Ollie, just _what_ are you telling mom?”

Nothing, for as long as he could help it.

“….I'm an adult,” he said, straightening up in his chair.   “I don't need to tell her when I'm seeing someone.”

“Yeah, right.” Thea snorted. “Next time, try sounding a little more convincing.”

 

 

 

 “What are you wearing?” Iris asked. 

Felicity’s wireless phone was set on speaker. It balanced on the side of her bathtub as she walked from the bathroom to her room and back again.

“Uh…The black dress with the cutouts,” she answered. It was a little more skin than Felicity was used to showing, but she was feeling good about her body tonight.

“Nice, going in for the kill,” Anne said. A blow dryer could be heard on the background, as she got ready for a date of her own.

“You?”

“The backless, red little number we got the other day,” Anne answered.

“Well, I am wearing a frown.” Iris clicked her tongue. “This article is draining my soul.”

“You could’ve left it and gone out with me,” Anne said.

“No, it’s okay. I didn’t feel like it.”

“Because you have a crush on your adoptive brother.” Anne threw the bait. “Happens to the best of us.”

“Barry is really nice,” Felicity added. “And I’m pretty sure he feels the same way.”

“Yes, my article,” Iris said, ignoring them both. “I mean, it’s interesting, but finances are not my fort. And shady finances are even worse. Actually, your boy’s company is mentioned in here, F.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I guess ‘your place of work’ is more accurate,” Iris said. “How’s that going, by the way?”

“One of my co-workers had a baby. I’m back to being invisible.” Felicity had never enjoyed not being the center of attention as much as she did right then.

“Congratulations?” Iris sounded unsure.

“Yes! Thank you.” Felicity was glad the gossiping had stopped, but she knew it wasn’t going to be forever. “I know eventually they’ll know about us. But with Oliver’s trip... I have, at least, one more week of being just Felicity and not the blonde girl sleeping with the boss.” The words left a bad taste on her mouth.

“Where did you say you were taking him?” Iris didn't let her dwell on it, and for that she was thankful.

“Technically, he’s driving,” Felicity said. “We're going to that Italian tplace on fifth.” Oliver liked Italian. Actually, he said he enjoyed cooking it -but no one would cook a food they didn’t like, right?

“Fancy, but not crazy fancy,” Iris said. “Nice.”

“Good food, not too expensive…” Anne rattled off. “You might have found the perfect restaurant, Smoak. Except it was _I_ who did. And it’s our place.”

“Oh, come on, this isn’t protected by the power of friendship.” Iris defended Felicity.

“Now if you get laid you owe me details.” Anne’s itch for information was real. Like she was breathing it or something.

“Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

“Yes, you do, actually. A lot of the time. And you’d ask for details anyways,” Felicity retorted. “Not that I’m planning on anything happening, by the way. I’m not. No happenings of any sort.”

“Okay.” Iris laughed.

Felicity wanted to defend her absolutely pure intentions, but a buzzing sound caught her attention.  The Star Wars theme song blasted from somewhere on the bed.

“Hang on a second, my cell phone’s ringing.” She fished it out from between the sheets, and managed to answer right before the call went to voice mail.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Felicity.”

“Oliver, hi.” 

“I know that….Sorry. Hey!” There seemed to be a lot going on at his apartment by the sound of it. “I know I was supposed to pick you up but something came up with Addy and I wondered if you could come over to my apartment instead?...Thea, hang on-” She heard Addy’s voice in the background. “And you can meet my sister,” Oliver said.

“Ollie! You cant have me meeting her dressed like this!” another voice said. That was Thea then, Oliver’s sister.

“She can hear you ,” Oliver said.

“Oh, shit.” 

“ _Language_ ,” he admonished, and by now, Felicity was repressing a smile.

“I’m not five,” the girl complained.

“My daughter’s three and she’s on the other room,” Oliver said. “So, uh, Felicity?”

She contained her laugh. “Yeah, I'm on my way.”

“Who was it?” Iris asked.

“Oliver. Something came up,” Felicity answered.

 She was meeting Oliver’s sister.  Crap. 

“You guys, I think I’m going to change.” 

 

 

 

“I’m sick, daddy,” Addy complained.

“You’re not.” Oliver stood at the foot of the couch, his eyes on the squirming toddler.

“Am too,” she refuted. She laid on the couch, her arm thrown over her forehead. Oliver had half a mind to get her acting lessons, because she was about ready to go on Broadway.

He wanted to keep his relationship with Felicity separate from his home life, at least for the time being. It was far too soon. But Addy had thrown those plans off-kilter. Felicity was on her way there to buy him some time, because his daughter was giving the performance of a lifetime.

Thea laughed, facehidden behind her hand, but Oliver started to worry. It was obvious Addy was faking. But they didn’t  lie to each other.

Addy whined, looked at him from the corner of her eye, and then moaned louder. 

“Just like you,” he mouthed to Thea, who stuck her tongue out at him.

Addy had started acting up the minute he put on his dress pants. She was a good kid. Oliver would swear she was the most well-behaved little girl ever. Tantrums were not a common occurrence. But when she had them -Oliver still had to work on not giving in to whatever she wanted to fix them.

She didn’t want him to leave. And he’d thought about calling Felicity and canceling their plans…but it was the last time they’d see each other in over a week. He dragged his hand down his face. His head was starting to hurt.

“Don’t even think about canceling, Ollie." Thea said, standing by his side. Her nickname was as appropriate as ever.  “I know that look. You’re thinking about it.”

“She doesn’t want me to leave,” he said. Addy had tired herself out. She laid on the couch, her legs hanging off the edge. Her face twisted in displeasure. 

“She’s three years old, of course she doesn’t want you to leave,” Thea said. “But you need to have, like, a _life_ , too. You know?” 

“Thea-”

“You are a great dad, Ollie. You’re better than our own dad, to be honest. One night where you don’t do what she wants isn’t going to change that.” Thea shrugged. “I love my niece, but you need to do stuff for yourself, big bro.”

He could see the truth in her words, even if it was an uncomfortable one. If it wasn’t for Tommy’s intervention with Felicity, he would have never gotten to know her. He’d been ready to hang the towel until Addy was much older. 

 “I’m staying here with Addy,” Thea said.  “And you’re going out for two hours, and I promise the world isn’t going to end.”

 

 

 

The doorman told her to go right upstairs. Felicity had been here with Oliver before, so she wasn’t sure if the man recognized her, or Oliver had told him to expect her.  It was probably the later. No one got inside the building without explicit permission. Which made perfect sense, since it was one of the most upscale neighborhoods  in Starling. If she was British, she’d say it was posh. _Posh_. Where did that word even come from?

Felicity bit her lip, eyes dancing to every corner of the elevator. 

She was nervous, alright. 

But she was meeting Oliver’s sister, so it was warranted. After Addy, he spoke about her the most, and it was clear her opinion had weight. Felicity wanted the teenager to like her. The elevator dinged. _Show time._

She took a deep breath before knocking on the dark wood of the door. Oliver opened a few heartbeats later, his shirt pushed up on his forearms and hair a little disheveled. He was wearing suspenders. Her mouth went dry.

“Felicity.” He said her name in an exhale, and the small smile playing at his lips had all nervous tension leaving her body. It warmed her to the tips of her toes, doing a much better job than the sensible boots she’d opted for. 

“Hi.” Felicity tried hard to keep her gaze on his eyes, because if she let it drop down to his lips-

“Hi!” A short, elvish looking girl stood behind Oliver, all brown hair and bright eyes. Thea. She sidestepped her brother and thrust her hand in front of Felicity at the speed of lightning.

“Thea Queen, sister of the man who has it bad for you.” Her smile was worth a thousand watts and Felicity felt a little blindsided. 

“Felicity. Smoak.” She took the girl’s hand. “Felicity Smoak.”

“Can we keep her?” Thea asked Oliver as she shook her hand.  Felicity could see the resemblance between her and Oliver. The Queens clearly had won some sort of genetic lottery. “Actually, Felicity.” Thea squeezed her hand. “Please, keep _him_.” 

“Speedy.” Oliver gave her a look and she backed off, but not before inviting her inside. 

“Come in, Felicity.” Thea opened the door for her, and Felicity stepped inside. Thea’s smile was pure charm as she sauntered back to the couch. 

“I need to get my jacket,” Oliver told her. “Just a second,” he mouthed. She nodded and he hurried up a set of stairs. She could appreciate how huge his apartment now that there were less toys and clutter on the open space. But she wasn’t one to judge. Something inside her own closet could be developing a conscience for all she knew. Her eyes landed on the girl staring at her from the couch.

“Hi, Addy.” She offered a tentative wave, and the little girl waved back. Progress, right?.

“So, Felicity…” Thea laid back on the couch, her feet up on the coffee table. She painted the picture perfect of nonchalance, but Felicity could recognize the careful scrutiny in her eyes. “What do you work in? Ollie said you work at QC.”

“I’m in the IT department,” she said.

“Really?”  Genuine surprise painted Thea’s face at being caught off guard. _Tell me about it_. Felicity had spent enough nights wondering what was he doing dating her. "That's like computers and stuff, right?" Thea sat up. "Can you hack things?"

" _No._ I mean, yes, technically. But it's not legal, so you don't want to get caught. _Not that I'd know."_ She shook her head. "And I'd never do it at work. _Ever_. Oh wow, _your dad's my boss_ -"

“City?” A tug at the hem of her dress shook her out of it. 

Addy stood at her side, trying to get her attention. 

“Yeah?” Felicity knelt to her height, and thanked the Gods that she’d chosen to wear a longer, less tight dress.

“I don't want daddy to go.” 

_Oh._

Addy pressed her lips together, and her bright green eyes -eyes entirely her own, not Oliver’s nor Thea’s- shone. Felicity wondered if Addy had inherited those from her mother. Suddenly, leaving with Oliver didn’t sit well with her.

Oliver came back, pulling on his jacket as he walked. 

“You ready?” he asked. Felicity stood up.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” She asked Oliver under her breath. His eyebrows pulled together in confusion. She followed Addy ambling down to Thea.

She turned to face Oliver, lowering her voice even more. “Maybe you should stay in tonight. Addy said she doesn't want you to leave.” 

“I…it’s only for a few hours.” He didn’t sound  very convincing. It actually looked as though he was struggling with himself.  “Thea will be here with her and I'll be back before she knows it.”

Felicity worried her lip between her teeth. She didn’t want Oliver to stay, mind you. Oh no. She had an entire night planned. A romantic stroll under the stars after dinner, and enough kissing to carry her through a week of missing the ridiculous man she had the luck to be dating. But she also wasn’t a complete monster. 

And then, bless her brain, Felicity realized it didn’t have to be a choice.

“Can we take her to dinner?” she asked Oliver. It was his call, after all. “Actually, why don’t we bring both of them? It doesn’t feel right to take you from her like this.”

He cocked a brow in surprise like he was seeing something for the first time.

“Are you sure that’s okay with you?” His hand cupped her elbow.

“Yeah, absolutely.” She let her fingers cover his own. She offered him a smile. “It’ll be fun.”

He smiled. It was enough.

“Thea, Addy, how do you feel about joining us for dinner?”

“I am severely under-dressed for dinner,” Thea said. In Felicity's opinion, she was not. “But I can make my niece cute as a button and then you can have her.”

“I’m going?” Addy asked, and the way her face lit up could have possibly powered Starling City. 

“Yes, you’re going,” Thea said, tickling her sides. “Come on, let’s get you dressed.”

 

 

 

Addy was quiet on the drive over. Oliver spied at her through the rear view mirror. She observed Felicity with a curiosity he’d seldom seen her have with people. Adelaide Queen had never been a shy girl. She got used to being the center of attention since the day she was born, and she was as mischievous as Thea and as charming as he had been at that age.

“You leave me for five seconds and I make your sister think I’m running a hacking organization from my desk.” Felicity filled the silence as usual, but this time, Oliver noticed he wasn’t the only one hanging to her every word.

 

The restaurant was busy and a bit loud, and Oliver breathed a little easier. He’d experienced more than one side-eye when Addy acted up at the sort of restaurants his mother preferred. Those where the only thing expected to be heard was the cutlery, not babies.  He had a booster seat set up next to him and Addy was quite happy to comply and sit down, which wasn’t always the case. 

“Do you like pizza, Addy?” Felicity asked, the kind smile she seemed to have reserved for his daughter appearing. “They have really good pizza here.”

“What happened to your glasses?” Addy asked instead of answering, like the question had been burning at her. 

Once Felicity answered, it was like a dam had been opened. 

Addy asked Felicity about her dress, her hair, the color of her nails. They discussed their favorite colors before the waiter could even bring a pitcher of water. Addy babbled in the familiar way he was accustomed to, switching from one topic to another and often not making much sense-but Felicity kept up.

His daughter was as lively as ever and Oliver was glad to see it.

He realized trying to keep them in separate places and times in his life was never going to work out. It wasn’t mean to be. Felicity could be his friend in front of Addy. Nothing bad could come from letting her spend time with such an amazing woman.

“Daddy likes the word serious, but I don't.” Addy munched away at a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table.

“The World Series,” Oliver corrected, and Felicity laughed.

“I don’t like it either.” Felicity confessed in an exaggerated whisper, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

“See, daddy?!” 

“It’s boring, isn't it?” Felicity flared her nose in distaste and Addy laughed.

“Are you two ganging up on me?” he asked, not a hint of annoyance in his tone -he couldn’t even fake it. 

After a half-hearted argument over the drawbacks of organized sports (which ended with Felicity saying she just didn’t have good enough eyesight for it),  and Addy’s explanation of baseball (which somehow included Dora the Explorer), dinner arrived. 

Addy dug into her pepperoni pizza with gusto. She had yet to master grabbing it solely by the crust.  

“I thought she’d be like that scene in the Titanic where the little girl eats with her pinkies stuck out,” Felicity said with a small, surprised smile.

“No, that’s…that’s my mother."  Oliver said. He reminded Addy to use the napkin to wipe her mouth. “She’s three, she can eat however she wants as long as food actually makes it past her mouth.” 

He  was determined not to be like his parents. He had picture perfect memories of them telling him how to sit, stand, and eat even before he started school. He didn’t want his own daughter to grow up like that. She was still a baby, as far as Oliver was concerned, and she could put her elbows on the table all she wanted.

Watching Addy smile at Felicity, and tell her whatever was on her mind…and that she listened? And actually talked to her, so much, in fact, he could barely get a word in -it’s what he imagined his family to look like.

Oliver had never given much thought to getting married and having kids before,  not even when things got serious with Laurel. And then he cheated on her with Sandra and Addy happened and he never looked back. He couldn't wonder about the what ifs and he didn’t want to. But he couldn’t help himself, seeing Felicity listening intently to his daughter, and seeing Addy soaking up her attention with delight….He wanted it so badly.

 

“Can you hold her while I open the door?” Addy was all burned out from the evening, and she’d fallen asleep on her car seat on their way home.   
“Yeah.” Felicity nodded. “Come here, sweetheart.” Addy barely stirred when he passed her over. He opened the door to the loft. 

The only light came from the TV, the credits of some movie scrolling by. His sister was asleep along the length of the couch. He shook her shoulder.

“I’m home, go to bed.”

She grumbled something at him and blindly made her way to the spare bedroom. He’d tell her in the morning how she’d walked in front of Felicity with her hair facing every which way. 

“I’m going to put her to bed.” He tried to take Addy from Felicity’s arms but her little fist held on tight to her dress. Addy whined, blinking owlishly up at them. 

“It’s okay.” Felicity said, adjusting her better on her hip. 

“Her room is upstairs,” Oliver said. He pointed the way and she followed after him.

 

 

 

Felicity climbed up the stairs, taking it one step at a time. She was more the sort to hold babies and small children in a stationary position, and she was scared she’d drop Addy. She barely weighed anything, but the feel of her in his arms made a strange protectiveness flare up in Felicity's chest.

The little girl’s room was painted lilac, ladybugs and birds stenciled on the walls. An enormous white tree covered the length of one wall, smiling animals on every branch. Felicity could picture Oliver putting it all together. Even assembling the small, wooden white bed in the middle of it.

She gently laid down Addy on it.

“It’s okay if she wakes up, I have to get her on her pajamas.” Oliver picked out a nightgown from the white dresser on one side of the room. Felicity felt a little like she was intruding in the routine, but she didn’t want to leave just yet.

A small book shelf held well used copies of fairytale books, The Little Prince, Dr.Seuss…the stuff her mom used to read to her when she got home early from the bar where she was a waitress. Felicity ran her fingers down the spine of the books. It was only just now hitting her how monumental it was what she was doing here.

“City?” Addy turned in bed, rubbing her eyes. She was _adorable_ in the pink nightgown Oliver had put her in. Her blonde hair was everywhere.

“Felicity’s still here, okay? Go back to sleep.” Oliver hushed her. 

“Can you come with us to rush, City?” Addy asked in a small, sleepy voice.

If that was the toddler’s way of asking her to go with them to _Russia, Felicity_ -just, her heart couldn't take it.

“I have work to do here,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper . She wasn’t sure how much Addy heard, since her eyes were slipping closed again.

“But I want…I want…”

“Shhh…” Oliver rubbed her back up and down, lulling her back to sleep.  When it was clear she was out for the count, Oliver drew the blankets over her, tucking her in.  He pressed a button on the night light by the side of her bed, and soft blue light flooded the room.

He turned off the lights on their way out.

“Thank you for tonight,” Oliver said. “She had a lot of fun.”

“It was nothing.” She’d had fun, too. The night hadn’t gone the way she expected, but it was just as good. Perhaps even better. And then, because she couldn’t trust her mouth to be there for her, _just once_. “I just don’t want her to hate me.”

She didn’t mean it like it sounded -except she did. 

“If tonight proved anything, is that she really likes you,” Oliver said. His voice went all soft and it did things to her. She would have believed anything he said. “Where is that coming from?”

“One too many blog posts I shouldn't have read? Not that-it doesn’t matter. My point is...I want us to work, Oliver.” She offered him a smile, interlacing their fingers. “I want what we’re doing here to work. And Addy comes first. Which is why I didn’t feel okay going to dinner with you and leaving her here wanting her dad.”

“You’re amazing.” His fingertips trailed softly up and down her arm. She was sure it was meant to be comforting -but it made her hyper aware of every nerve in her body.

Felicity could get drunk on this feeling. The electrifying, dizzying knowledge deep in her belly that someone wanted to kiss her and she wanted the same thing. The moment where the wait was almost as good as the moment itself. _Almost_.

 She melted into the kiss.

There was no hurry. Their lips explored each others for a moment, warm and slow, and she could almost taste his smile. Warmth radiated from his hands on her cheeks.  Felicity brushed her tongue against his lips, and the way he yielded beneath her mouth made sharp pleasure run through her body. He tilted her head for better access while her hands made their way down his shoulders. Oliver was pure muscle underneath her fingers, solid and strong. His hand held her waist and Felicity had no idea how cold she’d been until he touched her and it felt like she was burning.

Their kisses escalated, growing in urgency. He pressed her flush to him and she moaned, caught between him and the wall. Her nerves endings lit up everywhere he touched and his stubble felt delicious-

And then she remembered his sister sleeping downstairs and the little girl just down the hall. She pulled away, regret biting at her already.  She pressed tiny kisses to his jaw, his neck.

“I should get going,” she said, breathless.

He nodded, but didn’t let her go.

Oliver pulled away, and his eyes were glazed over. He looked drunk. He brushed his thumb over the reddened pout of her lower lip. His lips brushed hers one last time, so painfully gentle it was barely a touch, but she felt it down to her toes.

She hoped to Google it would carry her through a week and a half without.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Oliver tried -and failed- to keep Addy sitting up while he put her street clothes on. He’d turned around for a second after waking her, to grab a pair of pants and a shirt. But once he came back, she’d curled herself in a ball and gone right back to sleep. 

Addy hated waking up early. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, and he felt evil for trying to pull her out of bed, but they were going to miss their flight.

“Addy, come on.” He grabbed her by the armpits and sat her up.

“No.” Her chin seemed glued to her chest. “Daddy, no.” Her voice was awfully close to tears as she hid against his chest, eyes still closed and fighting to stay that way.

Oliver sighed. 

“Come on.” He put her jacket on top of her pajamas and zipped it up. There. He pulled a pair of boots on her feet. Her pajama pants were light blue dotted with little hearts, and he hoped no one would look too hard at the airport.

Out the door they went.

 

Addy sucked away at the lollipop he gave her in hopes of distracting her from the popping noise inside her ears. He’d learned his lesson when she was younger. Flying with a three year old wasn’t the greatest experience, but she could at least run around the small private jet and entertain herself. Oliver couldn’t imagine what flying coach with a small child might be like. He shuddered thinking about it.

“Daddy.” Addy climbed into his lap and he welcomed her into the circle of his arms. 

“Are you tired?” He scooped her up and pressed a kiss to her sweaty forehead. She laid down against his chest, the lollipop in her hand sticking to the lapels of his jacket.

“Let me hold on to that for you.” He took it from her hand and threw it away, and got some wet wipes to clean her sticky fingers.

His father came back from the cockpit and sat in the seat across from him, drink in hand. 

“Nap time already?” He smiled and pointed his chin at Addy, who sat still for the first time since they boarded. 

“Yeah, she tired herself out.”

“Been some time since we’ve talked, son,” his father said. “How's work?" he asked. It almost amused Oliver since almost everything that passed through his desk made it to this father.  "How are _you_? Eh...are you seeing anyone?”

He was surprised enough by the question that he didn’t have an answer right away. Their relationship was restricted to a few sailing trips in the gambit and stern conversations while he dropped  out of colleges. They’d never been as close as he and Addy. And _was he seeing someone?_

“Ah…” 

“You _are_.” His father chuckled. “That’s good.” He took a drink of scotch from the tumbler in his hand.  Oliver felt like a teenager caught in the act.

“Don't tell mom.”

His father laughed.

“All right, all right.” His father cocked his head to one side. “Who’s the girl? Is it Laurel again, is that why you don’t want your mo-”

“No. No, she’s...she’s someone new.” 

He couldn’t have his mother involved right now. His father never cared too much about his personal life if it didn’t interfere with his work, but his mother wasn’t the same. The last time he’d gone to her about a woman she’d tried to pay her off to take his child away from him. 

“Well, I hope to meet her soon,” his father said, and that was the end of it. 

Addy tugged on Oliver’s shirt to get his attention. She covered her mouth and strained up to his ear.

“I have to go potty,” she said, in her loud imitation of a whisper.

“She’s not on pull-ups anymore?” his father asked.

“No. We’re all potty trained now.” It had taken him ages to get her to learn. She was as stubborn as he.

“I still remember when Raisa taught you,” his dad said. Oliver supossed that was the crux of their relationship. Raisa did more parenting than either of them. “You would run around the house naked.”  His father leaned down to Addy’s level.  “But this little lady is more polite than that, isn’t she?” He touched her noise with the tip of his finger and she giggled.

“She’s really not,” Oliver said, smiling. “We’ll be right back. ”

  

 

Felicity got out of work in time for the first time in months. Oliver had texted her on and off ever since he’d arrived in Russia five days ago, but he was busy, and she didn’t want to interfere. They’d set up a Skype call for that afternoon, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t eager for it. 

She got home and did stuff to pass the time.  Like her laundry. She threw away the old, moldy take out boxes from the back of her fridge. She even remembered to water the poor cactus plant on her windowsill. The thing was still alive solely because it didn’t require much taking care of. Felicity tried to convince herself she wasn’t making her life about a guy while she waited for the Skype call to go in, but Oliver wasn’t just some guy.

She’d had rather vivid  dreams that week, all involving him. It was even worse than the time her mother took her to the strip club she waitressed in when Felicity was fourteen. It wasn’t fair that just after she’d gotten a taste of Oliver -literal and metaphorical- he’d had to go off to a Russian frozen wasteland. It probably wasn’t a wasteland, but that was what she was calling it. 

Anne was right -not that she’d ever tell her. Oliver was something else. She’d never kissed someone so devastatingly good at it. It had been days and she could still recall the overwhelming warmth of him around her body. But it wasn’t just the physical part. Oliver was so tender, so careful with himself and with Addy that she felt honored he trusted her enough to share parts of himself with her.  

The familiar ring tone came through her speakers and she sprinted to her laptop to accept the call.  Oliver’s face came in to focus. God Bless Skype. His beard was thicker than what she’d grown used to, almost like when they had first met. Oliver had told her how Tommy made him shave, and she’d filed it away to thank Tommy one day. 

“Hey, stranger,” she greeted. 

“Felicity.” His smile could have bumped the screen brightness up a few notches. She wanted to kiss it.

“City!” Addy’s face appeared out of nowhere,  awfully close to the laptop, and it took up the entirety of her screen.

Felicity laughed. “Hi, Addy.”

“Let daddy talk for a second, okay?” Oliver asked, grabbing Addy and pulling her onto his lap. She waved at Felicity and she waved back.

“How are things?” 

“It’s good, we’re good.” Addy freed herself from his grasp and wandered away. “Other than Addy refusing to eat anything other than nuggets.”

 “McDonald's will be McDonald's anywhere," she said. "A girl after my own heart.”

“How’s work? Whatever are you doing with your lunch hours?” He winked at her, and she definitely did not fall for it. He seemed so carefree, like talking to her actually lifted his spirits as much as he did hers. The thought sent her stomach aflutter. 

“I used to have a life before I met you, you know?” She usually spent her lunch hours catching up on work since she wasn’t very fond of her co-workers, but that was off the point. “I do wish I could meet you at Big Belly though.”

“I wish I could kiss you right now,” he said, his voice low and bold. He didn’t look away from her and Felicity felt warmth spread across her cheeks.

“Well, get back quickly so you can do that.”

 

  
They sat on the couch, his feet on the coffee table and Addy’s feet on his lap. He reviewed some of the contracts for the meeting tomorrow while Addy entertained herself with Peter Pan. The movie was in Russian, but that didn’t seem to deter her. Oliver was thankful. After a few minutes of fiddling with the remote he’d failed in figuring out how to change the language. He couldn’t help but think Felicity would have gotten it right. Maybe Addy was on the right track trying to invite her to come.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?” He didn’t look up from the papers in his hand.

“Why I don't have a mommy?”

His heart stopped.

The question came out of nowhere. She looked expectantly at him, like she hadn’t just dropped a brick over his head.

He’d been getting ready for the question since forever, but now that it arrived -he had nothing. It stopped him in his tracks. She didn’t seem sad, or upset. She said it no differently than how she’d ask what was there for dinner.

Oliver still felt like the air was too thin. He didn't want to explain Sandra’s actions to her. He still didn't understand them himself. That one of your parents didn’t want to be a parent. That they chose to leave and ignore the fact they had a baby. How do you explain that to a three year old?

“Daddy?”

“Well…Families are different.” That was good enough, Oliver thought. He didn’t have to mention Sandra right now. “Some children have both a mommy and a daddy. Some children don’t have a mommy and some don’t have a daddy. Some kids have two daddies or two mommies.”

“Two?” Addy asked.

“Yeah, two.”

She thought for a second. “Are there kids who have none?”

His heart clenched in his chest. His daughter was so innocent, but at the same time so wise.

“Yeah. But there are people who love them and take care of them too. Like a grandma or an aunt-”

“Like a City?” she interrupted him.

“Yeah. They’d be lucky to have a City.”

Addy nodded her agreement and went back to watching the film. He waited for more questions with baited breath, but none came.

The knots tangled in his chest loosened.

The question wasn't as charged as he thought. It seemed to come from a place of genuine innocent curiosity, not a feeling that she was different. But it still had his heart beating faster and the gnawing worm of worry messing with his head. Addy wasn’t always going to be the age she was. Soon enough, 'families are different' wasn’t going to satisfy her, and he had no idea what to do when that day came.

Would Addy want him to contact Sandra? Would she want to be a part of Addy’s life? He didn’t like the idea -it made him a selfish bastard, but he couldn’t think about Sandra having Addy half of the time. If he could even get a hold of her.

He dragged his hand down his face. His daughter was playing on the couch of their hotel room, and he was getting ahead of himself.  
A longer conversation about it loomed in their future, but for now, he just breathed.

  

 

Felicity had a zone. It was her happy place. It felt like slipping into a warm bath with a good romance novel in hand and a glass of  red wine. (The expensive stuff, too, that she allowed herself only on special occasions.)

In her zone, she could type well over a dozen lines of code in a minute, the keyboard an extension of her hands. The only sound was the constant hum of the computers, the click of the keys, and the distant noise of her co-workers.  It was so relaxing she often forgot the pass of time.

Felicity was immersed in her zone when she noticed the lack of noise. Her computers were going strong, but when she stopped typing she noticed the lack of other sounds. No one spoke. She looked at the digital clock glowing on her desk. 

It wouldn’t be the first time she looked up from her computer to find the entire floor dark, and  she the only person still there. It didn’t bother her. But it wasn’t time to leave yet. 

“Felicity?” 

She heard her name, just close enough that she could make it out. It sounded like Samuel. She’d taken to calling him Slimy Samuel in her head.

“Yeah. I heard you talking about her just now.”

And that sounded like…

“Her  office is over there,” Cynthia said. 

“Thank you. By the way, Felicity’s my friend, and my family owns this company. If I was you, I’d be careful with my words.” Felicity heard the click of heels after a cheerful ‘Bye!’ was uttered. 

What the-

“Hi, there!” The girl waved her fingers in greeting where she stood under the door frame. She walked inside Felicity’s office without invitation.

“Thea? I mean…hi.” Felicity shook her head. “Um, what are you doing here? Well, it _is_  your family’s company, but how do you know where I work?"

Thea plopped down on the chair in front of her desk and shrugged.

“Asked around.”

Felicity was almost never rendered speechless, but this was one of those times. Her brain was still processing the small hurricane that was Thea Queen barging in her office after bullying her co-workers. 

“Not to sound rude but… _what_ are you doing here?”

“Well, you leave in 5 minutes,” she said, like that was answer enough. “My brother is like, _crazy_ about you. I think we should hang out.”

She and Oliver had texted every day since he left nearly a week ago, skyped the day before, and she’d made out with him against the wall of his apartment like a teenager -but Felicity’s stomach still fluttered with warmth at Thea’s mention that Oliver was crazy about her. The feeling was mutual.

Wait, _hang out?_

“Thea…I-” Thea Queen did not seem like the type of girl you said ‘no’ to. “I was actually planning to stay for a while longer, get some work done ahead of time.”

Thea scrunched her nose in distaste and it reminded Felicity so much of Addy she actually ached with missing the little girl.

“That’s kind of sad,” Thea said. “Anyway, we’re going for coffee. This new coffee bar just opened uptown, it’s miles better than Starbucks.”

 Felicity liked coffee. She was a self confessed caffeine addict, but as long as it did its work of keeping her awake and alert, she didn’t care much about the taste. It was tempting to accept Thea’s offer. 

“I’m taking you. My driver’s downstairs.” Thea stood up. She looked at her wrist with an exaggerated gesture. “And would you look at that? It’s 5pm. Let’s go.”

“…What if I wanted to stay?” Felicity asked, but one look at her smiling face told her it was futile to resist. 

“I don't think so.”

Kidnapped by a teenager.

She’d expected to be accosted with all sort of questions the minute she stepped into the car, but Thea was quiet. She looked pensive as she gave directions to the driver.

The buildings flew by the window. Soon enough, they were entering the nicest part of the city. It housed the tall buildings and expensive boutiques that had always seemed a little fake to Felicity ever since she moved from Boston. Like the Strip back in Vegas. 

 She’d grown up in a street where sometimes trash didn't get picked up on time and with more than one stray dog. It looked lived in, real. This was exactly the opposite.

“Hey, Felicity?” Thea’s voice shook her out of her thought.

“Yeah? 

“Your co-workers…are they giving you shit for dating my brother?”

She blinked at the word. Thea, for all her heavy eye-liner, looked even younger than she was.

“Oh my God, don't you dare say ‘ _language_ ’ to me,” Thea said.

Felicity raised her hands in surrender.

“They’re…they’re not very nice people,” Felicity said. Understatement. “It doesn't affect me.” She tried not to let it get to her, but she still had work to do on that.

“Does Ollie know?” Thea asked. “He could fire their asses.”

“No. And he’s not firing anyone.” Felicity had taken care not to mention any of it to Oliver. She didn’t want him to think it was his fault. She looked for a  way to explain it to Thea. The girl acted much older, but she was still young. “Look, Thea. They’re talking because they think I'm friends with Oliver to get something. Money…or a better position at the company.” 

 “So they think you’re a gold-digger,” Thea said flippantly. Clearly the teenager did not need Felicity’s protection.

“And getting Oliver to fire them would just prove them right, do you understand?”

“Yeah." Thea looked outside the window. "I still think they deserve it.”

“Right there with ya,” Felicity said. They shared a smile. 

“You’re really not, are you?” Thea asked, biting her lip. 

“Huh?”

“Sleeping with my brother to get something.” Thea searched Felicity’s face for her reaction. Thea’s expression let her know similar things had happened before. 

Felicity couldn’t imagine growing up not knowing if people were with you because of who you were, or because of your money or last name. She could have never had that problem. But Felicity could read in Thea’s eyes the very real concern for her brother.

“No. I liked him before I even knew his name.” She’d been utterly charmed by Oliver and Addy since that first day at Blockbuster. “And I’m not, by the way.” She shook her head. “I'm not sleeping with your brother. Should I even be telling you this?

“I’m fifteen years old, Felicity, do you remember being my age?” She said it with an air of false experience Felicity was familiar with. She’d faked her way through college with that same bravado.  

“Junior year of high-school,” she answered Thea. “SATs. Applying to MIT.”

“Jesus, you're too good for Ollie.” Thea turned to face her in her seat. “That’s good. Ever since Addy was born he’s gotten used to dating women who don't deserve him.”

Felicity didn’t know what to say.

“And before that, well…” Thea shrugged. “He was a dick. I used to watch girl after girl do the walk of shame over my Cheerios. Look, we’re here!”

The coffee shop, or _coffee bar,_ as the sign over the door indicated, was packed. The air smelled delicious, part coffee and part the pastries placed on top of the counter. Felicity planned to have dinner here. 

“My treat.” Thea said with a smile.

Regardless of the amount of people, it didn’t take very long for them to order. They sat down on the second floor of the shop, on a little balcony over-looking the well groomed trees lining the street. 

The coffee tasted like it was going to ruin her little Nescafé coffee maker for her. She inhaled it more than she drank it. Once their éclairs were gone, they actually had time to talk.

Thea was extremely smart. 

She didn’t like school, but she shared with Felicity an amount of knowledge on fashion trends that would have put Vogue to shame. And then told her, shy for the first time, how she hoped to be a designer one day. Thea regaled her with stories of Oliver from when he was little, and she couldn’t wait to share with him the ammunition in her power. 

Felicity, in turn, told her all about growing up in Vegas, spicing up the parts about the strip and the card games for Thea’s benefit, though Felicity _had_ won her fair share of money from unsuspecting teenagers back then. They’d been quiet for a while, enjoying the last of their coffee, when Thea looked up suddenly.

“Does it bother you?”

“What does?” Felicity set down the empty cup of coffee on the table, already calculating how much of her salary would coming back here once a week would take.

“That Ollie has Addy,” Thea said, and Felicity stopped.

“What? No.” She had never imagined how things would be if Oliver didn’t have Addy. It was unthinkable. Since the beginning, they had gone together in her mind. She’d wanted Addy to like her, and she’d been amazed by the way Oliver loved her. “Addy is amazing. She’s the most special little girl I’ve ever met. And to be honest,  I think she gives him…direction. I don’t know who Oliver would be if he didn’t have Addy.”

Thea stared intently at her. 

“You’re different.”

“Than?” Felicity asked, almost afraid to know. She felt vulnerable, like she’d been left out in the rain.

“Every other woman Ollie has dated,” Thea said quietly. “Let’s go. If I’m not home before dark my mom will start calling.”

Felicity followed Thea out of the coffee shop, thinking about her words. She liked the teenager, and truth be told, Felicity felt like she had passed some sort of test. 

“I had fun, Thea. Thank you.” 

“Me too. We should do it again sometime.” She gifted her a charming smile. “I’ll bring Ollie’s baby photos.” 

They climbed into the back of the car and Thea stuck her body between the front seats.

“Robin, let’s circle back to QC to drop off Felicity. And then I feel like hitting Big Belly before we go back to the house. Cool?”

“Yes, Ms.Queen.”

 

Oliver called her to say his trip had been extended for a few days a week and a half after he left. Her stomach plummeted to the floor, disappointment riding her hard.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it.” It wasn’t his fault.

“Maybe we can plan something for when I get back? I’d like for you to meet Tommy.” 

She smiled. 

“I'd love to meet him," she said. She owed Tommy one for calling her after her mess of a first date with Oliver. It felt like a distant memory. "My friends are actually dying to meet you, too, and you know, actually talk to you.” She remembered Oliver saying hi to them before whisking her away for a walk. “I want you to meet them, too. I mean, I’m finally the one with the hot boyfriend so-”

“Hot boyfriend?”

Shit, shit, _shit_. Why did her brain hate her? She squeezed her eyes together, but there was no magic rewind button that could push her words back down her throat so she could choke on them.

“Not that you're my boyfriend-” Nervous tremors bubbled up her throat. “I didn't mean- Not that I wouldn't _want_ you to be-  I just-”

“I like boyfriend,” he said. “It’s nice.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. I can say my _girlfriend_ is a beautiful genius now. It’s perfect.”

  

 

“I miss you and Addy, Ollie.” Thea complained over the phone. He was sure the call was costing a small fortune, but his sister didn’t let things like that stop her. In fact, he was sure the hour-long, ninety dollar call to a Russian land-line was a small act of rebellion against their mother for forbidding her to come along.  “Russia blows,” Thea said.

“You wanted to be here,” he reminded her. She’d begged their mother for permission to go, but she couldn’t miss so many school days.

“Correction, it must blow without me.”

“I miss you, too,” he said. “Dad promised it’’ll only be a few more days.”

“Yeah, just like he’ll always make it home in time for dinner.”  
“Well, I promise I’ll be home soon.” He checked on Addy, who was still entertained with her crayons and a coloring book. “Felicity says you ambushed her at her office,” he said casually.

“Hush, she loved it,” Thea said.  Oliver smiled. He would have liked to see Felicity taking on his sister. “I like her, Ollie.”

“Yeah…me too.”

“Ugh, I can actually hear you smile.” Thea groaned. “It’s disgusting.” She laughed.  “Okay, put my niece on the phone. I need to hear all about Russia out of the mouths of babes.”

  

 

Oliver’s plane landed Sunday afternoon. After two weeks, Felicity practically buzzed with excitement.  He texted her about a late, late coffee date. He said he wanted to see her right away but he and Addy were having dinner with his family.

She sat at one of the outside tables of a small coffee shop in downton Starling, not as fancy as the place Thea had taken her to.  She held a cup of chocolate in her hands for the warmth more than anything. Starling was getting colder earlier this year, specially at night. Felicity took tiny sips of the sweet drink, letting it warm her.

A couple of hands touched her waist and she jumped, turning around.

“Oliver!”

She threw her arms around him and he hugged her close, his hand flat on her back. She would have been embarrassed at her reaction if he wasn’t holding her as tightly. She pulled back, beaming at him. She’d missed him.

This ridiculous, gargantuan man was her boyfriend. It was exhilarating. The word made her giddy in a way it hadn’t since she was in high-school and entertained the fantasy that the most popular guy would lay eyes on her. She liked to think she was above such things, but she  wasn’t, and her inner fifteen year old loved her right now. 

“Hi,” he said. His eyes dropped down to her lips, and he brushed a gentle kiss to the corner of her mouth. His lips were cold from the night air and his cheeks were red, and Felicity was utterly intoxicated by him.

“Hi.” 

She thought _frack it_ and pushed herself on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips. He was her boyfriend, she was allowed.

They sat down at the table, the cold wind that gusted by the perfect excuse to sit closer to him, their knees knocking together. Not that she needed an excuse, she thought.

Oliver told her about Russia, where he’d spent more time inside their hotel room with Addy than anywhere else, and the meetings upon meetings where he swore her texts had saved his life.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked, when he’d been quiet for a while, just staring off at the distance.

He looked at her for a minute, but she couldn't decipher what he was thinking. 

“My mom is running for mayor,” he said.

“What?” Out of anything she expected, that didn’t make the list. “I mean, she is? Wow.”

“She helps my father with the company, and she donates to a bunch of charities,  but she said she doesn’t feel like she’s doing enough for the city.” Oliver looked at her and shrugged. “So she’s running for mayor.”

“Wow,” Felicity repeated. She wondered what would that make Oliver if she won. First son? She snorted.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh my God, I’m not laughing at your mom, I promise. My brain’s just dumb.”

“I don’t think you could be dumb if you tried,” he said, his voice all soft the way that did things to her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and it set off a small explosion in her chest.

“Addy keeps asking about you,” he mentioned. “She missed you.”

“I missed her too.” Addy’s happiness was contagious. Watching Oliver with her could melt the coldest of hearts.

“You could swing by the loft, I’m sure she’d love to see you,” he said.

“I would love that.”

 

“City!” The shrill exclamation took her by surprise, as did the little girl running toward her legs. Felicity picked her up on reflex before she could slam herself against her knees. For someone so small, Addy held on tight. 

“Hi.” Felicity smiled, adjusting the girl on her hip as she hugged her. She was shocked, to say the least, but it was a pleasant surprise. She turned to look at Oliver, and he stared back at them with a smile that made her stomach flutter with nervous butterflies.

The baby sitter hadn’t had the door opened for more than a few seconds when Addy was already flinging herself into her arms. 

“You want to see my cat my daddy got me? Down, down.” She started wriggling to be put on the floor and Felicity set her on her feet. She ran off to a room on the first floor.

“City! Come.” Addy stared back at her halfway there, stomping her little foot. “City.”   
Felicity looked at Oliver, who chuckled. Dimples appeared in his cheek and she wanted to kiss every one.

“I just have to pay the sitter, go.”  He kissed her cheek quickly. 

She followed Addy, who ran the rest of the way.

Oliver’s loft was huge. Down a small hallway on the first floor were two doors. One of them she assumed was a spare bedroom. The one Addy had run into was a playroom. Though that was probably an understatement. Foam puzzle tiles covered the entirety of the floor. There was a ball pit in a corner of the room. A ball pit.

“Look!” Addy held a large gray stuffed animal in her hands.

“That’s very pretty,” she said.

“It’s Russian.” 

Felicity smiled.

“You wanna see my house? Daddy can’t fit through the door.”

Felicity had had an indoor playhouse when she was five. Her father had bought her one and she had assembled all the PVC tubes and connectors overnight because she couldn’t wait until the weekend. Her mother had a blast telling that story.

Addy did not have one of those houses. A purple, wooden playhouse with a loft on top sat on a corner of the room, complete with a slide, inside lightning, and a door with actual hinges. It looked like something straight out of Pinterest. 

“Come in,” Addy offered, walking in. Felicity knelt down and peered inside. She could fit through the door and stretch her legs comfortably, too.  “City, come in.”

“I’m okay out here,” she said.  Addy plopped down in the tiny couch she had inside, and gave her a toothy grin. Felicity couldn’t help but smile at her, it was so sweet.

“It’s time for bed.” Oliver hung outside the door, hands in his pockets. 

Addy jumped out of her playhouse, running towards her father.

“I was showing City my house.”

“That’s nice, I’m sure she liked it.” He knelt down to her level. “Now go brush your teeth, okay? Go, go, go.”  He patted her butt and she ran off into the hallway. “So you’ve seen the playroom,” he said, straightening up.

“Playroom? It looks like Toy R Us threw up in here.”

“It is a little too much, isn’t it?” Oliver looked around. “Thea helped. We had slides and swings on the back of the house growing up. "He shrugged. "I didn't want Addy to miss up on that for living in an apartment.”

The entire room looked like any child’s dream. Felicity noticed something new every where she looked. 

“It’s amazing,” she said. “That tiny house looks better than my college dorm.”

Oliver smiled at her. He threw a quick look to the door and swooped down for a kiss, taking her by surprise. It lasted only for a second, and left her craving more.

“Let’s go. I can’t leave her alone for too long.”

She followed him outside.

“I actually want to install a slide from her room into the playroom below,” Oliver said over his shoulder.

“You’re not serious.”

  
 Felicity smiled from her place by the door. Addy jumped up and down in her bed, laughing, and Oliver caught her mid-bounce.  

“Time for bed,” he said, tickling Addy before putting her under the covers. 

“I want a story,” Addy pleaded.

“Which story?” Oliver walked to the bookshelf but Addy sat up in bed, shaking her head. 

“I want City to tell me a story.”

_Oh._

“Is that okay?” Oliver asked her. 

“Yeah, sure." She headed toward the bookshelf.

“No, _you_ tell me a story,” Addy said.

“Oh, okay.” She gingerly sat on the edge of the small white bed. Addy dutifully laid back down under the covers.

She noticed Oliver looking at her with a smile. She could do this. It was just a story. She knew fairytales.

“Well, huh….Once upon a time, um, there was a boy…named Harry Potter.” Addy listened intently at her, her green eyes fixed on her face. Felicity thought no one had ever paid attention to her like that before, so whole-heartedly. “But Harry Potter wasn’t a normal boy, he could do magic.” She whispered the last word and Addy smiled, her eyes widening and dimples appearing. Felicity told her an abridged version of the first book, what she could remember and things she made up, and by the time she got to the three headed dog, Addy’s eyes were blinking closed.

Something blossomed in Felicity’s chest as the little girl fell asleep to the sound of her voice, and it equal parts enthralled and terrified her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr as reyandsmoak. I actually have companion gifsets for scenes/chapters of this fic over there under the tag "all blue skies" if that's your thing. 
> 
> I'm so thankful of the response this fic has gotten! Every comment and kudo is much appreciated. Buckle up you guys, we're finally getting to the scenes that made me write this monster of a fanfic in the first place. :)


	8. Chapter 8

_Boom, boom, boom._

The pounding behind her eyelids wasn’t easing in the slightest. 

Felicity wasn’t having a good day. She’d gone to sleep far too late the previous night after finishing up some work. (She would’ve usually done it in her lunch hour or stayed late, but lately she’d actually had a life of her own. )

Felicity wasn't blind to how much she did for her department. She loved her job, but why was she left with the bulk of the work while some people did the bare minimum? _Just like in high school_ , she thought bitterly.  

“Felicia?”

She looked up. Cynthia stood at the door.

“Yes?” She’d gotten tired of correcting her on her name. By now, she was sure she did it on purpose. 

“Marvin asked me to get you to look over this.” She said, waving a USB. A mocking smile that gave Felicity the creeps adorned her face. “Or is a teenager going to beat him up for it?”

She laughed at her own joke, and left the USB on top of her desk. This wasn’t new. Marvin -her supervisor- was remarkably dumb. Felicity dragged her hand down her face. The ache behind her eyes was not improving.

 Her phone vibrated from it’s plastic, chair-shaped stand on the side of her desk. She smiled when she saw the screen.

      **Oliver (1:36)** : _What would you like for dinner tonight?_

The thought that she’d see him again tonight made everything a little brighter. She smiled to herself, hoping no one was paying attention.

 _Surprise me_ , she texted back.

Felicity took the USB from the corner of her desk and sighed. Just a few more hours. 

 

 

“Ready? Set? Go!”

Oliver jogged to the toy chest against the wall, teddy bear in hand, mindful of how one of his strides equaled at least five of Addy’s steps.  She ran as fast as she could, speeding past Oliver, her tiny feet padding across the floor. 

“I win!” Addy exclaimed, jumping up and down. Oliver threw the stuffed animal in the plastic  chest from where he stood.

“You did,” he said, repressing a smile. Addy _had_ won the race for the third time in a row, but the Barbie doll she carried got left behind in the middle of the way -which kind of defeated the purpose of this.

His daughter wasn’t fond of picking up after herself, so Oliver had turned it into a game. They each grabbed a toy and then raced to put it in its place, and the first one to manage it won. It kept the apartment more or less clean, and got her to spend some excess energy. Addy thrummed with it some days, basically climbing up the walls. Today was one of those days. Oliver was thinking of actually installing a rock climbing wall in her playroom.  

“Again!” She ran back to the living room, where her stuff was lying around and Oliver jogged to catch up. When he got there, she was pushing a plastic drum into Tommy’s hands.

“Uncle Tommy!” She pouted. “Come play!”

“Can’t do, sorry darling.” He handed her back the toy. “I have a boo-boo on my foot. Both of my feet, actually.” Addy huffed at Tommy -pride bloomed in Oliver’s chest- and grabbed the drum herself.  “Great work, though!” Tommy exclaimed, while Addy ran back to the chest, not even waiting for her dad this time. "You're in fine form!"

Tommy looked at Oliver. “One day I’m going to tell here it’s not a game.” 

“Don’t you dare,” Oliver said. Tommy raised his legs while Oliver grabbed Barbie’s car, which somehow had gotten stuck half under the couch. 

“Take it easy with the cleaning, man,” Tommy said, dropping his feet back down. “It’s not...half as bad as usual.”

“Felicity is coming over,” Oliver said. She’d already seen his apartment being a complete mess, but couldn’t a man have some pride? 

“I know, it’s the reason you refused my company for the evening.” Tommy managed to sound wounded, mocking and teasing in the same damn sentence.

“I said you could stay for dinner and meet her.” Oliver hadn’t planned it for tonight, but he wanted his best friend and his girlfriend to know each other. Calling Felicity that was still fresh, and Oliver wasn’t surprised at how right  it felt every time.

“Which is code for third wheel,” Tommy said. “Or fourth wheel, as the case may be.” He nodded at Addy, who dug inside the chest, throwing out the toys they’d so painstakingly put in not ten minutes ago. He sighed.

“Addy’s not…You should see them together, man. Felicity’s great with her.”  Oliver smiled. “It’s like they’ve known each other forever.” Felicity had charmed Addy. His daughter loved getting her attention and telling her about her day, and Felicity -unlike most people- actually listened to her, which filled her with delight.

“You have it bad,” Tommy said.  Oliver shook his head, but he didn’t answer. “Didn't you see her last night?”

“I’m allowed to see my girlfriend more than twice a week, Tommy.”

“You’ve called her your girlfriend a dozen times and I’ve been here for an hour,” Tommy pointed out, mockery dripping from his voice. 

“Get your lazy ass off my couch.” Oliver pointed at him, hoping to God he didn’t fucking blush. “You help or you go.”

 

 

Felicity’s grin pulled at her cheeks when Oliver opened the door.

Her headache was still going strong, and her feet hurt, but seeing Oliver’s smile soothed her at least a little bit. Though she could think of something that would make her feel even better.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” she reciprocated, leaning forward, intent on catching his lips with her own. He took a step back.

“Addy,” he said under his breath. “Sorry.”

She redirected herself, aiming for his cheek instead. His stubble was rough under her lips, and disappointment and desire swooped in her stomach.

“City! City!” Addy yelled, and Felicity closed her eyes against the loud sound. The pain behind her eyes flare up. “You wanna play?”

“Hi, sweetie.” The pet name slipped easy past her lips as she patted  Addy’s back. 

“Come, come.” Addy grabbed her hand in her two small ones and pulled her in the direction of the playroom. Her eagerness made Felicity smile. She looked back at Oliver.

“I’ll call you when dinner is ready,” he said. She nodded, trailing after Addy.

Felicity took her shoes off inside the playroom. She groaned when the heels came off, the padded flooring of the room a godsend under her tired feet. Felicity was a fan of flats. Her favorite pair of shoes was probably a pair of flats with panda faces on them -but ever since she started dating Oliver she felt the need to dust off her nice shoes. She knew she didn’t need to, not for Oliver, but he looked like a ten all the time and she wanted to get on his level, not to mention that everyone at work took a closer look at her ever since Thea landed in her office. Plus, the things those shoes did to her butt where magical. 

“Here.” Addy pushed a tiny plate into Felicity’s hands, topped with little plastic food. 

“Thank you,” she said.

“I cook just like daddy,” Addy said, handing Felicity a small pink fork.

“I can see that.” 

 She tried to keep up with the little girl’s usual rapid fire talk, but she was tired, and her head was killing her. Addy didn’t seem to notice, chattering happily and waving her little arms around. It was kind of adorable.

A delicious smell reached her nostrils, wafting in through the door.   Herbs, and something spicy, and Felicity’s stomach actually grumbled with the expectancy of food not of the frozen variety. Oliver appeared in the door a few minutes later, his eyes warm as he looked at her sitting on the floor, plate of fake food in hand.

“Dinner is ready,” he said softly.

Addy ran out of the room, and Felicity stood up to follow after her. To hell with it. She picked up her shoes and oped to go barefoot.

“You okay?” Oliver’s finger were gentle on her elbow, holding her back.

“Yeah, just a headache.” She shrugged. “Tough day at work.” 

“Is everything…?”

“Yeah.” She tried to put on a smile for his benefit. 

He kissed her forehead, his lips barely a suggestion on her temple, before heading toward the kitchen. She heard him arguing with Addy to get her to wash her hands. She took a deep breath, pressing two fingers against her forehead, and followed Oliver.

 

“I thought you liked vegetables,” Oliver said, looking at Addy pleadingly, but the girl was not budging. 

“Not carrots! No!” She stuck her tongue out. 

“You haven’t tried them yet,” Oliver pleaded, taking Addy’s plastic fork in his hand and stabbing a few pieces of carrots in it. He placed it back in Addy’s hand, but she shook her head.

“Come on, Felicity is here. You don’t want to act like this in front of her.”

“No!” Addy yelled, the shrill sound bouncing around Felicity’s head like a jackhammer. “They’re yucky!” Addy slammed the spoon down on her plate. Warm, sticky puree landed on Felicity’s blouse, eliciting a gasp out of her.

“Addy!” Oliver exclaimed.

Addy looked up at her dad with big, tear filled eyes, her mouth pulled up into a heartbreaking pout, trembling.

“It’s okay.” Felicity had never seen Addy anything other than content and it sent her into a reel of near panic.  “Really, it’s fine.” _Don’t cry, don’t cry._

“I’m sorry,” Oliver apologized, and handed Felicity a napkin. She wiped at the stain on her blouse, her eyes on Addy, who looked scared when she looked back at Felicity.

“Don’t go,” Addy said, her lip trembling.

“I’m not, I’m not. It’s okay.” 

It hit Felicity like a lightning bolt, fast and shocking. Addy’s green eyes were so earnest as she stared up at her. She wasn’t just dating Oliver, she was becoming something to this little girl, regardless of her lack of knowledge about their relationship. The little threads of nervousness that had plagued her wove themselves into a monster that made her wish for the inhaler she’d used in the sixth grade.

 

It took her forty minutes to drive home. 

Half of that time was enough to work herself up into a frenzy, and the headache that had plagued her all day was not helping.

Oliver was her boyfriend, she’d been processing that for a few days, and she knew the precious, golden little girl by the name of Addy Queen was his daughter, but until now -her brain hadn’t connected  the dots of where she fit in that equation. Her stomach clenched. What was she going to be for Addy?

See, Felicity got a goldfish when she first moved to Starling.

The Doctor passed away in a week. _A week_. Anne, who'd been her roommate back then after they met during the last year of college, said the fish probably killed himself to escape his terrible name. Felicity knew the truth. She was incapable of taking care of anything.

And, obviously, Oliver was Addy’s father, he took care of her and was amazing at it, but what had Felicity fidgeting with the hem of her shirt was the fact that if Oliver was her boyfriend and things continued to go as great as they had then…what did that make her? She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t even think it. 

_Shit._

Was she ready to be anything akin to… _that_ for Addy? Was she signing up for shrill little screams and food on her clothes and the terrifying fear that she'd mess up? Was she insane that only one of those things actually worried her?

She brought her cell phone to life, thumbing through her chats. She opened the group _The three musketeers_ and typed away.

      **Felicity Smoak (11:26 pm)** : _Drinks and a movie tomorrow? my trat_  
        **Felicity Smoak (11:27 pm)** : _Treat*_

 

Anne sat down on the couch next to Felicity, and laid down three shot glasses on the chest that doubled as a coffee table. Iris walked in, shaking the coffee liquor and the Irish cream bottles in her hands. Felicity was already enjoying the whipped cream straight from the can.

“Blow-job shots,” Anne said, smirking.

The three of them hadn’t done this in a while, just getting together for drinks and bad romance movies. Felicity preferred it to going clubbing. Even more so now, when she needed some serious girl talk. She’d taken double the recommended dose of Tylenol when she got home, her headache finally fading enough for her to be able to sleep, but she still woke up nervous and fidgety. 

Anne poured them a round, mixing the shot with expertise.

“Let’s play a game. The person who most recently gave a blow-job drinks first.” Anne looked intently at Felicity, waiting.

“Anne.” Felicity’s face grew pink.

“Still me, then.” She shrugged, downing the drink. “It’s always me,” she said under her breath. Iris laughed. 

“So…how was your reunion date with Oliver?” Iris knocked shoulders with her. ” 

Felicity topped their shots with whipped cream while she put her words together. She thought back to their coffee date, how good it had felt to see him again, how he'd looked at her while she spoke. The way it made her feel.  She’d loved that feeling almost as much as the feel of his hand in hers or his stubble beneath her lips. It had been amazing. 

And then last night, which had been less amazing. The way Addy asked her not to go after the food accident and how her little face had brightened when she stayed. Oliver’s hands on her arm, the kiss they sneaked when he walked her out.

“That good, huh?” Anne asked.

“It wasn’t like that,” she said. ”And that’s not why I called you. We saw each other again last night.” She half hid her face beneath the throw pillow.

“So soon?” Iris asked.

“Two dates in as many days,” Anne commented, in a disengaged tone of voice that was anything but.

“I missed him,” Felicity said shyly. "I missed them."

“He was gone for all of two weeks,” Anne said, matter-of-fact. “And before that you were dating for all of three.”

Felicity groaned into her pillow. “I know. That’s why I called you.” She looked up from her hiding place. “This isn’t normal. It all feels serious. Like majorly serious.”

“I thought you broke up with Cooper because he wasn’t serious enough,” Iris said.

“That, and he almost got us both thrown in jail.” Felicity mentioned the minor detail while re-filling their glasses. “We had the labels conversation.” She bit her lip.

“And?” Anne’s eyes popped open. “Is Oliver Queen officially your boyfriend? God, I sound like a fourteen year old. I don’t even care.”

“Yup.” She popped the ‘p’. Calling Oliver her boyfriend still felt new and amazing and the warmth coursing down her chest could not be completely blamed on the liquor. 

“That’s great, F.” Iris squeezed her shoulder.

“I don’t think you finally having a boyfriend after the last fiasco is what you called us for, though.” Anne said, waving her hand at Felicity in a gesture that meant, either serve the whipped cream or pass the can. She took it from Felicity’s hand. “Vodka is for celebrating. Coffee liquor and whipped cream reeks of drinking your feelings.” 

Anne waved the can for emphasis before pushing some cream straight into her mouth.

 “I…It’s just…” Felicity sighed.  “I look at Oliver, and I see this wonderful, beautiful man and his little girl-”

“And it’s like an upside down nursery rhyme,” Anne guessed. “Then comes marriage and mortgages-“

“Anne.”

“He’s too rich to need a mortgage.”

“ _Iris_.”

“She’s not wrong,” Anne said. Felicity groaned.

“Okay. So everything is getting really serious, really fast, and that freaks you out,” Iris said. 

“No,” Felicity answered, pulling at the loose threads on the corner of the throw pillow.

“No?” Anne raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. It freaks me out that it doesn’t freak me out as much as it probably should. Does that make sense? I want things with him. And Addy. And that scares me.” She sat back against the couch, letting her head hang and her eyes wander across the roof. “I’m twenty-two years old. I live off of takeout and microwavable meals." She sat up  suddenly, whipping her head to look at Anne. “You were smoking pot here the other day. I can’t bring a toddler to a place where pot has been smoked!”

“Is that judgment, Smoak? Because I remember you the last weekend of college...”

“That was a mistake,” Felicity stated.

“You smoked pot in college?” Iris asked, disbelieving.

Anne turned around. “You should have seen her, the black hair and-“

“Guys!” she exclaimed, and they both looked back at her. “That’s the thing. Regardless of how it feels…I think I might be too young for this. My boyfriend has a daughter. It feels different now that we’ve put a label on things. I’m thinking of it differently. Before…I was scared of things ending before they even started if Addy didn’t like me. But now…she actually wants to see me. And for me to tell her bedtime stories, which I actually loved.  
  
And yesterday the headache from hell was killing my brain cells one by one and Addy was yelling and then I got hit by a puree projectile but when she looked like she was going to cry, I didn’t care about any of it, you know?  I want to spend time with them both, not just with Oliver, and play with Addy so she’ll smile at me in that adorable little way she does. By the way, she has a ball pit.”

“Circle back,” Iris said. Anne waved her finger in circles, her mouth full of whipped cream.

“I just realized…if she was my daughter I would've been nineteen. And I know nineteen and pregnant is worlds away from sixteen and pregnant but still. I can’t be someone’s…step-mom. Oliver and Addy, and even Thea, they have this family, and the way I fit there…it’s scary.“

Felicity took a deep breath after finally laying everything in the metaphorical table. It felt good, to put all that had been eating at her last night into words.

“So…tell him,” Iris said. ”Tell Oliver you’re in over your head and that you don’t want to keep seeing him.”

“And do it now, before his kid gets too attached,” Anne added.

She flinched at the words. The clear memory of a sleepy Addy clinging to her at the loft weeks ago flooded her mind. And the way she hung to her every word before falling asleep with a smile of her face. How she’d asked her not to go and how much Felicity wanted to promise her that she wouldn’t.

“I-“

“You, what?” Anne goaded. 

“I can’t do that. I like Addy, I don’t want to stop seeing her. And Oliver…I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I let him go. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” 

“So…there you go,” Anne said, waving her hand at Felicity and seemingly at the entire situation. 

“And let me point out that our input in this conversation has been limited to a few sentences,” Iris said.

“Smoak, you found your knight in shining armor. So, yeah, he has a kid, a wallet bigger than Texas, and happens to be your  boss. Big deal. At least the kid is cute and likes you. Remember a few months ago when I met up with this guy and his 5 year old called me a hussy?”

Felicity snorted, she remembered that night quite clearly. Anne had returned to their apartment hammered and not from the date.

“Yeah, now we can laugh about it,” she grumbled, though the reminder of the story was all for Felicity’s benefit. “You and Oliver  will have a cool office romance and eventually a huge mansion, and you’ll be the cool step-mom who can’t cook. If any of the above really bothered you, you wouldn’t have done this.”

“What?”

“Talked to us about it and then defend your relationship at every turn.” Iris smiled knowingly at her. 

 “You two did this on purpose didn’t you?” Felicity asked settling back against the couch.

“Maybe,” Anne drawled out. “Tough love, babe.” 

“To be fair, you were the one who called us,” Iris added, hugging her side.

It still seemed daunting, and Felicity knew that particular conversation was worlds away, but when it came…maybe she’d be ready for it.

  
Her cell phone rang  halfway through Bride Wars, eliciting a groan from Anne. Iris was fast asleep, head on Felicity’s shoulder.  Felicity slipped out of her grasp, laying her friend on the couch. She padded toward the kitchen, the hardwood floor cold under her feet.

“Hi,” she answered the phone.

“Hey. Were you asleep?” Oliver’s voice was soft and quiet, and she imagined he didn’t want to wake up anyone either. In his case, it was an adorable little girl, while she just had her drunk best friends to worry about.

“No, just watching a movie,” she answered. 

“So, I wanted to ask you…to let me redo dinner. I can get Thea to take Addy for the night.” He sounded unsure, and it made something ache in her stomach. He didn’t have to.

“No, it’s okay,” she said, sitting down at her tiny kitchen table. And then she realized how that sounded. “I mean, dinner sounds great. Yes to dinner. I mean, you don't have to get Addy out of the loft.” She closed her eyes. “How do I manage to babble through the phone?”

“It’s a gift,” Oliver said, sounding amused. Then, “I’m sorry about your shirt. Addy’s usually on better behavior. She just had too much energy to spend yesterday.”

“I really didn’t mind, Oliver.” She smiled to herself. He had nothing to worry about.  “See you tomorrow night?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

Addy laid between them, her head on Oliver’s thigh and her sock clad feet against Felicity’s leg. Addy talked through the movie, wired from the brownies Oliver had served for dessert, and Felicity knew she could never do as her friends had inverse-logic suggested. She was in too deep already. She loved A Little Princess, but she didn’t mind Addy speaking through the movie. It felt right to sit there and listen to Addy’s charming babble while Oliver looked on with a smile on his face. 

On a particularly slow scene, coupled with instrumental music in the background, Addy sat up, her hands going straight for Felicity’s face. 

“Why you have glasses?” She asked Felicity.

“They help me see better,” Felicity answered, smiling at the innocent question. “Do you want to try”?

Addy nodded, bouncing in her seat.

Felicity took off her glasses, blinking a few times to adjust her sight, and then put them on Addy. They were far too big on her, slipping down her button nose. Oliver chuckled behind Addy.

“I can’t see,” Addy complained.

“That’s because your eye sight is perfect, you don’t need any help.”

“Here.” Addy took off the glasses and pushed them back on Felicity’s face. One of the temples ended up on top of her ear instead of behind it, and the lenses were smudged from tiny fingers, but Felicity appreciated the gesture none the less. 

“Thank you,” she said. 

Addy plopped down next to Felicity. Her head rested on Felicity’s arm as the movie captured her attention again, one of the colorful Indian fairy tales playing on the screen. Oliver moved closer to them, his arm over the couch, his fingertips just shy of Felicity’s shoulder. She smiled at him over Addy’s head.

The expression in Oliver’s face opened up her heart to a world of possibilities that she was no longer as wary of.

 His cell-phone buzzed before she could say a thing.

“One second.” 

He walked to the kitchen to answer, while Felicity stayed with Addy on the couch.

Felicity had seen the movie dozens of times, and the ending was the best part. She looked toward the kitchen, where Oliver paced, still on the phone. Sara was about to find her father, and she couldn’t let him miss it on principle.

She walked into the kitchen, his back turned to her.

“Just had dinner with Addy…No, it’s just us…What do you mean? Yes, I’m sure. Thea’s with….yeah. Okay. Goodnight, mom.”

“Oliver, everything okay?” she asked, softly. He startled when he heard her voice.

“Yeah, it was just -just work.” He offered her a smile. “What did Addy want?”

“Nothing, movie’s about to end.”

He nodded, heading back to the living room. Brow furrowed, Felicity followed him.

 

Felicity left the loft about an hour after Addy fell asleep, a glass of red wine under her belt, a dozen kisses on her lips, and the feeling of Oliver’s hands against her back still present.

In the back of her mind, Oliver’s conversation with his mother bugged her, as did the fact that he’d lied so readily about it when it didn't make sense to. But she was tired, and it was probably nothing.

Felicity tried to shake it off. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kudos on this fic are blowing my mind, just so you guys know. Thank you.

  
There seemed to be a Big Belly within walking distance no matter where in Starling you where.  Oliver and Felicity had gotten into the habit of spending lunch hour together, and they usually walked the two blocks from QC to get burgers when they could.

It was full of people. Apart from the long line, it meant no one was overly interested in anyone else’s business. None of her co-workers bothered to walk here, either. (Fueling the myth that IT people were lazy nerds, which wasn’t _that_ true, _thank you_.) But still a bonus.

They sat at a tall table, burgers and a mountain of chili fries between them. Their knees knocked together beneath it.

Oliver  told her about the time he and Tommy tried to convince his mom into letting them fly to Vegas for his seventeenth birthday. She'd heard quite a bit of Oliver's shanenigans when he was younger already. They usually had her in stitches, but the mention of his mother brought Oliver’s conversation from the other night back to her.

Anxious little thoughts had spent the last few days chasing each other around her head like a hamsters on a wheel. They hadn’t had the ‘meet the parents’ conversation yet. Felicity was okay with that, but she’d thought his parents at least knew about her.

It didn’t sit well with her that Oliver would lie about being alone at the flat, and then lie to her about who was calling, but it was such a small thing it seemed pointless to ask him about it.

Or maybe it wasn’t pointless, and she was just afraid of the answer she would receive if she did.

Felicity pushed the thought to the back of her head like a pro, but another worry took its place, like a depressing version of a PEZ candy dispenser. 

Her co-workers had settled into a routine she was familiar with from her days back in high-school. (It amazed Felicity how people didn’t really grow up, just got older and meaner.) But it was nothing she couldn’t deal with. 

Most of them thought either nothing was actually going on, or that it was nothing serious -apart from Cynthia, but the woman was headache-inducing. Felicity was almost thankful. She knew how it would look for her once their relationship was out in the open. She’d be a gold-digger, a social climber. She’d be the girl sleeping with her boss, and just the idea of it sent a cringe down her spine.

“Is everything okay?” Oliver asked, and Felicity realized she’d been quiet for a while.

She shook her head. “It’s noth-”

“And don’t say nothing.”

She studied the furrow in his brow, the genuine concern on his blue eyes, and she couldn’t just brush it off again like she’d been doing. But she also couldn’t tell him all of it.

“Some of my co-workers have been…talking, I guess, about us,” she said carefully, gauging his reaction.

“They know we’re together?” Oliver asked, and it made her stomach flutter with unwelcome nervousness. _Didn’t he want anyone to know?_ No, that was ridiculous. Stop it. It was nothing. She was making mountains out of one phone call.

“I mean, we haven’t exactly been keeping it a secret, but after Thea visited me last week they kinda got enough confirmation to gossip away.” She waved her hands, as if she could wave away the issue itself. She wished it was that easy.

“I’m sorry.” Oliver grabbed her hand over the table, his palm warm and smooth over hers. She had no idea how cold her hands were until then.

“It’s not your fault.” She shrugged, squeezing back his fingers. 

“What can I do?” he asked.

Felicity remembered her conversation with Thea. If Oliver did anything at all to her co-workers he’d only be proving them right, providing them with more ammunition. 

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” she said. She would deal with it like a big girl. “We’re not doing anything wrong and eventually they’ll get bored.” _Please, let them get bored._ Felicity loved her job, but she could really do without the people.

Oliver looked down at the table, processing her words. He didn’t look  pleased but he nodded in understanding.

“I’m still sorry,” he said softly.

She let her eyes trail over her boyfriend. The strong line of his shoulders visible through his suit jacket, his clear, bright eyes. She felt the gentleness with which he held her hand.

Felicity leaned forward, capturing his lower lip between her own in a quick kiss.

“I’m not.”

 

 

Oliver was not a fan of his job.

He didn’t necessarily hate it, but it was boring and mind numbing, had always felt like ill-fitting clothes. 

Part of Oliver always knew this was where he was headed. He might have entertained the notion of finding something he was truly passionate about before, but after Addy, it was never a question. He had to do what was best for his daughter. And that was a nine-to-five job where his parents gave him the leniency and time to be the father he wanted, the father Addy deserved. He wouldn’t get that anywhere but at QC, following into his father’s footsteps. The aching boredom was a small price to pay.

He became used to it. Doing what his parents expected of him, what was needed for the company to thrive, what Thea wanted and what Addy needed. It wasn’t wrong. He loved them. But for someone who had once been so selfish, careless with himself and others -Oliver had forgotten what doing what he wanted felt like. Being with Felicity was the first thing that he’d done just for himself in so long. 

Their relationship felt private and his in a way he’d never felt before. Even when he’d been serious with Laurel years ago, there had been the media following him around, his mother butting into things, a combination of those making choices for him he didn’t want. There was none of that with Felicity. He could just be himself with her. Oliver hadn’t realized how much he needed that in his life until he found himself standing in front of a babbling, blond IT girl in the middle of Blockbuster.

Every day he’d seen her since then had made his life better, every time she was close and every time they kissed had made him feel…so _light_. 

Oliver smiled to himself, returning his gaze to the stack of papers on his desk that should have been holding his attention. 

He started reading a paragraph for the third time when a flash of blond ponytail caught his attention on the other side of the glass wall. He’d say ‘speak of the devil’, but Felicity looked more like an angel.

Oliver stood from his desk, rubbing the nape of his neck to work out the kinks after a day of staring at paperwork. He opened the door of his office.

“Felicity?”

Her head popped up, her eyeglasses jarring with the movement. She pushed them back on her nose with the tip of her finger. A smiled bloomed in her face.

“Hi, there,” she said.

“Where you looking for me?”

“Nope, just providing some IT help.” He hoped his face didn’t show his disappointment. Felicity pointed at herself. “It’s what I do. IT girl. IT department.” She shook her head, a blush coloring her cheeks. “Never mind”

He chuckled.

“Your secretary’s computer got jammed up” Felicity explained, but said secretary was nowhere to be found. “Not the first time, but back then I didn’t know you which is kind of…crazy.”

It seemed like it. 

Oliver thanked whatever higher power there was for letting him walk into Blockbuster that afternoon so many weeks ago.

“Yeah, it is.” He smiled, remembering the taste of her lips beneath his, the feel of her skin underneath his fingertips. He knew they were at work, but he couldn’t help but want to kiss her right then and there. “Are we still on for Saturday?” 

“Yup.” Felicity smiled as she said it, her tongue peeking through her teeth. “You know, I’ve never actually gone to Star City Zoo, despite having lived here for a while now, but I’ve always wanted…”

Oliver knew Felicity was speaking. Her lips moved and she looked excited but all that reached his ears was white noise as his eyes followed the well dressed woman leaving the elevator.

“Oliver?” Felicity asked, touching his elbow. The feeling sent dread shooting up his spine.

He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to introduce Felicity to his mother, he hadn’t planned it. He didn’t-

“Oliver.”

“Mom.”

Felicity stood with her eyes wide open next to him, her entire body stiff with nervousness. He’d never seen her so still and quiet.

He realized both his mother and Felicity were waiting for him to say something, but his mouth fell as dry as a desert. He swallowed past the tightness in his throat.

“Mom, this is…Felicity Smoak. She -she works in the IT department. My secretary’s computer-”

“Ms. Smoak.” His mother nodded at Felicity, who let the hand she’d offered fall back down. “Excuse us. Oliver?” His mother started walking toward his office, expecting him to follow.

He wanted to touch Felicity. He wanted to take it back, lay his hand on the softness of her waist and kiss away the furrow in her brow, but he found his feet moving, following his mother like he’d done a thousand times before.

Felicity’s confused, disappointed face, followed him even after the door had closed between them.

 

 

 

“Do you think he’s embarrassed of me?”

Felicity laid down on her bed, her favorite sweats on, a pint of mint-chip securely in her grasp.

“I mean, maybe Cynthia is right. Why would he-”

“Don’t.” “Stop it.”

Anne and Iris talked over themselves in the video chat, but Felicity couldn’t shake off that afternoon.  Oliver had looked a little disappointed that she wasn’t up there to see him, and it had made her stupidly pleased. Then he’d looked like he’d seen a ghost. And out of nowhere walked Moira Queen, in all her polished, well-dressed glory.

Oliver hadn’t bothered to introduce her as anything else than an IT girl for their company. 

Felicity swallowed another spoonful of ice-cream.

“Really, F? Not even a 'she’s my friend'…?” Iris asked, voice tentative.  
   
“That’s cold,” Anne said.

“We haven’t really talked about meeting each other’s parents yet.” Felicity tried to reason, even now, looking for a way to defend him. It was too soon, he was in no obligation to talk to his mother about her. But she still felt disregarded. Unimportant. Embarrassment burned down her throat like a pill she couldn’t swallow.

“You’ve met his sister” Iris reminded her. 

“Not to mention, you’re playing house with his daughter,” Anne said. “I don’t get it. If he wanted to keep you a secret he wouldn’t have let you spend time with either of them. And you’re certainly not a booty call because the lack of sex is honestly-”

“Have you talked to him about it?” Iris asked, interrupting Anne.

“No,” she said. Her cell phone had been quiet on the Oliver front. He usually texted her after he put Addy to bed, but it was clear he wasn’t doing that tonight.

“When are you seeing him again?” Iris asked. Her friend was in pajamas, same as Felicity, and dug into her own pint of ice-cream. It felt almost like their usual boy talk -except that what she could lose now was so much greater than just a date.

“We’re taking Addy to the zoo this weekend,” she said.

“And you’re still going?” Anne asked.

“I promised Addy. I can’t bail out of it no matter how…” What was she? Mad at Oliver? Disappointed? She _hurt_ , though part of her thought he had the right to choose who to tell about them and she hadn’t told her mom either, except for some vague ‘I’m seeing someone’ texts and-

Everything in Felicity crumbled down to insecurities.

 

 

  
“Hi!” Addy ran in front of the glass, waving at the monkeys on the other side. “Hi! Hi!” She giggled when one of them jumped closer to the edge of the enclosure. 

Oliver stood by Felicity's side, but he didn’t try to talk to her.  The air between them felt like a fabric pulled too tight. They’d said hello as usual, a dry kiss on the cheek their greeting, and gotten in the car straight away.

They’d been at the zoo for an hour, and exchanged very few words.

Oliver hadn’t mentioned her meeting his mother at QC the other day so neither had she, but it wouldn’t leave her alone. All of Felicity’s reservations, all the doubts she thought she’d put behind her, rushed back to the surface. Maybe her co-workers were right and she wasn’t good enough for Oliver Queen. Certainly not good enough to bring home to his parents. She wasn’t a model, or an actress, or hell, a successful lawyer like his last serious girlfriend.

She felt dumb, like she’d been worrying over what was her place in his family when he didn’t really plan for her to-

“’City! I wanna see lions.” Addy raised her arms up at her and Felicity picked her up with ease. She was getting used to it.

“Let’s go find the lions then,” she said, hiking Addy up on her hip. She looked behind her and Oliver followed her.

He was thinking about the same thing as she was, Felicity could tell. It made her heart do its best impression of a tiny, shriveled up raisin.

 

 

Addy stood in front of the glass enclosure, her little arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes were opened in astonishment at the huge animal on the other side.

The lion lurched forward, and Addy stood her ground, but when its paw came up against the glass she shrieked and jumped away. She ran straight to Oliver, who laughed before picking her up.

She mumbled something that resembled ‘he’ll eat me’ in his neck, and he held her closer.

“He can’t hurt you,” Felicity told Addy. “That’s what the glass is for.”

Addy looked up at Felicity, and then extended her arms to be picked up. Oliver handed her over and Addy curled herself around Felicity like a little monkey, arms and legs holding her tight.

His eyes followed Felicity as she strolled along the lions’ enclosure, pointing them out to Addy and speaking in that soft voice she used with his daughter. Felicity didn’t baby-talk her. She spoke to her with  such a slow, kind voice she might as well have been singing.  
Oliver didn’t meet her eyes. He couldn’t bear to see the emotions running behind them.

He’d never felt such red hot shame as the previous afternoon at QC. The right words were about to leave his lips when he lost his nerve.   
He knew his mother loved him, in her way, but she was a business woman through and through. Marrying his father, him and Thea, her charities, her run for mayor -every inch of her life she’d planned to perfection.

He remembered the cool nonchalance with which she’d explained her reasoning for trying to take Addy away before he’d even known about her. He knew the look in her eyes when she surveyed the choices he made, the disappointment he’d often seen reflected there.   _I only want what’s best for you._

He shook his head. He hadn’t wanted her looking at Felicity like that.

What he had with Felicity felt clean in a way, untainted by all the shit he’d done when he was younger and untouched by his mother.  He’d been fucking stupid for believing he could live with those two sides of his life separate for more than a few weeks.

He’d been even more stupid for panicking and swallowing down the need to tell his mother about Felicity, his girlfriend, the woman who made his daughter smile and who made him feel like he’d just woken up from a long slumber. 

He made a mistake. He needed to fix it.

 

 

Felicity carefully passed Addy back to Oliver. Her arms ached from the effort of carrying her around all she wanted, but it had been worth it. 

Addy fell asleep a few moments after eating the lunch Oliver had packed for her, crumbs on her cheeks and a small fist tightly clenched in Felicity’s shirt.

“Can we talk once I put Addy to bed?” Oliver asked gently, and Felicity met his eyes. She nodded. They walked to the zoo entrance, the murmur of the wind and animal sounds the only noise between them, so loud in its silence.

The lights blinded Felicity.

They came out of nowhere, so rapid and bright it took her dazzled mind a moment to realize they were camera flashes.

“ _Mr.Queen!_ ” 

_“Ollie, what do you think of your mother’s mayoral campaign?”  
_

_“Who is this woman? Is she the future Mrs.Queen?”  
_

_“Ollie, over here!”_

The shouts woke Addy up, and the flashes only grew more jarring. Felicity couldn’t see through the white spots in her vision as the light from the cameras blinded her. Question after question were fired at her. She didn’t know where to look or where  to go, the mass of people pressing in on her from all sides. 

It almost felt like drowning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
